Animalistic love
by sadistic-neko
Summary: Yami Atemu and the other Yamis return on a new mission. a mad scientist shows up and the gang and Seto will never be the same again. loves will bloom and claws and fangs will enter too. S/J Y/Y B/R M/M and gasp Honda/Otogi as a background couple.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh, but at least I can now get my little imagination out on paper, or I guess I should say on the computer. Warning: I have a sick mind and unless you really enjoy Yoai don't read.

_**Animalistic Love**_

**Seto P.O.V.**

I was sitting in the classroom, checking my company's stocks. Ever since Dartz almost took over my company, I had been checking them more. If anyone tried buying too many, I would either buy out their company myself, or bankrupt the individual.

The sound of the teacher droning on was merely background noise that was easily ignored. There was no point in my listening to her, since there wasn't anything that she could teach this class that I didn't know. After all, it was a computer software class. I wrote more advanced software before I was even my younger brother, Mokuba's, age.

She then said something that excited the rest of the class. I was too busy to catch it, but, since it didn't have anything to do with me, I didn't care. Then I heard the door open and I vaguely noticed movement out of the corner of my eye coming from the door.

"New students," I thought and then went back to my laptop.

I would have just continued to work if I hadn't heard the gasp that everyone let out. I looked up curious and barely held in my own gasp.

Four new students walked through the door. To say that they were new to me would be a lie. To tell the truth, I hoped that I would never have to see them again. Them being there couldn't have meant anything good.

"These are the new students that I was telling you about. Please step forward one at a time and introduce yourselves." The teacher stumbled through his sentence and everyone waited for them to step forward and state their names.

The shortest was the first. He had spiking hair that had three colors. It was black with a red rim to it and jagged yellow bangs that framed his face and protruded up the spikes. He had menacing crimson eyes that held kindness and the wisdom that he gained through the millennia that he had lived. Everything about him exuded confidence.

"Hello, my name is Yami Atemu. It is a pleasure to join your class." He looked around the class, searching. He smiled as his eyes fell upon his smaller counter part.

Then a second person came forward. This one had astoundingly bright white hair that went half way down his back and was very unkempt. His eyes held malice and were narrow with what I assumed was agitation.

"My name is Bakura and if you bother me I will happily cause you bodily harm." Just as Yami did, this one looked around, searching for someone. I glanced back at Ryou's seat, figuring that he was the one that Bakura was searching for. His eyes were wide with terror and I could see him shaking in his seat. Bakura gave him a sadistic smile and another person stepped forward.

"What pathetic looking children aren't they," he mumbled under his breath and earned a small kick from a smaller look-a-like. "Whatever, my name is Marik." He glared around the room and the counterpart stepped forward and smiled warmly to the class.

"I am Malik Istar. I apologize for Marik's attitude. Please take care of us." Both Marik and Malik had platinum blonde hair that went just below their shoulders and pale violet eyes. Marik was bulky and Malik was much leaner, more boyish than the other. He also had calmer hair compared to Marik's, whose looked as though he had been electrocuted, sticking up in every direction.

"Well, Um," the teacher stuttered, trying to get over the fact that every single one of the new students had a mirror image of themselves in her class that seemed to not be related to each other. "Yami, let's have you sit next to Yugi. Bakura, sit in front of Ryou. Marik and Malik, sit in the two seats in the front."

The teacher, Yugi, Ryou, and several other students looked ready to faint. I couldn't blame them, though Yugi and Ryou were the only ones in the room that would have truly had good reason to. After all, they knew just how unusual it was for them to be in this Japanese classroom.

Yami, the five thousand year old Pharaoh that saved the world during his reign in Egypt had been freed from the millennium puzzle and his soul had been sent to the after life. Ryou and I had witnessed Yugi and the Pharaoh go through the ceremonial duel ourselves and were there when he said farewell to all of his friends.

Bakura had been sent to the shadow realm when the Pharaoh defeated Zork. The tomb robber had plagued Ryou and the others ever since he used the millennium ring to take over Ryou's body during Duelist Kingdom.

Marik had taken control of Malik's body and almost ruined my Battle City tournament and had already influenced him to do evil acts since he was little through the power of the millennium rod. He desired the power of the Pharaoh, trying to win the millennium puzzle and the Egyptian god cards to accomplish that goal.

Malik on the other hand was cast out of his own body. Because of Marik he even killed his own father when he was a child. His family had guarded the Pharaoh's tomb for all the millennia that he was sealed in the puzzle, waiting for the one destined to solve it and help him save the world again, A.K.A. Yugi. His sister had tried manipulating me to help her brother.

Why were these people here? How did they even get here? What was to happen now that they were there? All of these questions played out in my mind and I was going to get the answer to every single one of them. There was no way that I was going to continue to be left in the dark.

As he sat, I heard Yami say, "Hello, Aibou. I will explain everything later when the others are here too and we can have some privacy."

Yugi nodded and he looked at me as if to say, "You come too. I know that you desire answers also."

Knowing that I was going to get some answers, I turned and looked towards Ryou and Bakura. Ryou was still shaking and his eyes hadn't left him since he walked in the class. Bakura looked slightly worried, but it was so slight that I thought that I had imagined it.

"What's wrong Hikari?" he asked. "Are you afraid that I am going to take control of your body again?" Ryou nodded and Bakura looked very dissatisfied with that answer. "Stupid."

Not even wanting to now what was going on there, I looked towards Marik and Malik. They were walking together and Marik looked ready to kill someone.

"Behave Marik," Malik said. "Remember what happens if you step out of line. And what was with that weak little children thing earlier?"

"It was the truth. If you would please shut the hell up about that it would be greatly appreciated. You are getting exceedingly annoying." His annoyance was playing on his face, his anger a fire burning in his eyes.

I spent the rest of the time between then and lunch, trying to ignore them. That was completely impossible. The curiosity was burning in the back of my mind.

To tell the truth, it had been there ever since I was sent into ancient Egypt with them and could no longer deny that what they were talking about was real and that it wasn't all some magic trick. I had resented the idea that it had fascinated me, but I eventually beat down the urge to learn about it. Now that they were back, after a year I might add, I couldn't help but find my mind wandering to those many questions that I wanted answers to.

I assumed that their shadow magic still existed when I saw that each one of them had their millennium items still on them. Bakura and Yami had theirs around their necks and Marik kept his in a pocket in the inside of his school jacket.

The instant that I saw the millennium rod, it seemed to call out to me. I ignored this, knowing that Yugi and the others would claim that, since I, according to them, possessed it in a former life when I was the high priest serving the Pharaoh. Purely ridiculous.

At least, that's what I would have thought before. Now I was wondering if it still desired me as a master and I mentally kicked myself as it thought it. I had to admit that I was still in a little bit of denial.

I practically ran out of the classroom when the bell rang, signaling lunch. Immediately, I went to where I knew that Yugi and his friends always ate lunch.

It was in the shade of a cherry tree that resided in the back of the school. Thankfully it was well out of anyone else's view, so privacy would not be an issue.

I sat down just outside the group and waited for the ones that were missing to arrive.

Yami, Bakura, Marik, and Malik had already arrived and were sitting, also waiting. None of them had any lunch. I assumed that they weren't able to get anything from the cafeteria because they still weren't in the school's system.

"What the hell are you doing here you damn bastard?" an angry voice said from behind me. An annoyingly familiar voice that is.

I turned around and came face to face with Jonouchi Katsuya. He was Yugi's best friend and, for some unknown reason, preferred to be called "Jou". There was only a few inches height difference between us (obviously, I was taller.) and he was very lean, yet disproportionately strong. I was the only person that he ever really lost a fight to.

His head was covered with shaggy blonde hair and his eyes burned an unusually warm shade of honey. He always reminded me of a puppy. Both the way he constantly following his friends around and his appearance enhanced that persona. It was easy to imagine him with flapping ears and a tail. Especially when he ran to the lunch line.

"Is that any of your business?" I asked, scoffing at how oblivious he was. I wouldn't have been surprised if he mistook Yami for Yugi whenever it was that he would even notice that we weren't alone.

"Get lost!" he screamed indignantly.

"You first." Unlike him, I remained calm.

"Oh, hi Yug," he said when he finally glanced away from me for a second. I smirked as he proved me right.

Yami chuckled, leaving Jou with a confused look adorning his face.

"Wrong one you idiot." He glared at me and then looked at me as if I were stupid. What a fool.

"What…?" he stopped, his mouth falling open as he saw Yugi walking up to us with Ryou following behind.

"I think we left poor Jou in shock," Yami said as Jou stuttered something incomprehensible.

Then their other friend, Honda, showed up and had a reaction similar to Jou's. It took a few moments for them to calm down enough for the others to explain.

"Now that Jou and Honda have calmed down, I will explain what's going on." He glanced at everyone sitting with him and started the explanation. "Something is going to happen soon. I'm not sure what it is yet, but Anubis made a deal with me. I get to have a body of my own and I can stay here with you guys if I stop whatever it is that is coming."

"W-what about them," Ryou stuttered, pointing at Bakura and Marik. "W-why a-are they here? D-did he make d-deals with them too?"

"Yes. Their powers could be useful, not to mention that they would work their rears off to accomplish this mission. If they step out of line, they get a one way ticket to the shadow realm."

Bakura and Marik shuddered, probably thinking of the hell they went through in the shadow realm. I had never, personally been sent there, but, from what Ryou described of it, it was a terrible place that I wouldn't want to be trapped in.

"So, there's no chance that he's going to steal my body again, right," Ryou asked nervously, coming out of his hiding place behind Jou ever so slightly.

"I have a body of my own now, so where would the point be in that?" Bakura seemed to be becoming more irritated as the seconds passed. He got up and sat beside Ryou.

Jou, becoming uncomfortable, got up and, for some unfathomable reason, sat beside me. I gave him a glare that should have easily told him that I would happily rip his head off if he got so much as an inch closer to me.

"By the way, it seems that Bakura and I have no place to stay. Yugi, do you think that your grandfather would be kind enough to allow me stay with you?" Yugi smiled widely.

"I don't think that it would be a problem. I'm sure that he wouldn't mind."

"Now we have to find a place for Bakura to stay. Would any of you mind having him stay with you? That is, of course, if you could get permission." Again, Yami looked around, waiting for an answer.

After a moment, Ryou spoke up.

"He could stay with me. My father is always away, so there's plenty of room at my place."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh

Everyone looked at him in shock. He was terrified of Bakura. You couldn't even say his name or Ryou would shudder. Whether Ryou had lost his mind or something weird was going on. More than most likely, he _had _lost his mind.

"Sounds good to me," Yami said, his lips curling into an amused smile. It was as if he knew something that the others didn't and I didn't want to be let in on the joke. If he was the one laughing at it, there was no way that it was something that I would want to be involved in.

"Now that everything is settled, how about you tell me what I have missed since I went to the afterlife." He seemed like he thought that there would be something astoundingly interesting that would be talked about. How interesting could their lives be when the main source of chaos and cause for anything dangerous had left? (Yes, I am talking about him.)

I left before they could bore me with stories of how they had used friendship to overcome obstacles and whatever nonsense that would obviously come up in their discussion.

Yami P.O.V.

It was wonderful to be back with Yugi and the others. I had missed them so much while I was in the afterlife. I even think that one of the main reasons that Anubis let me come back was because I was annoying the hell out of him with my constant bad mood and depression.

I couldn't help but smile when I looked at Yugi. He seemed to have changed so much while I was gone. He was taller now. It was hard to tell at first, because I had grown too. I was now the actual height I had been when I was sealed in the millennium puzzle. When I shared a body with Yugi, I was shorter. The less the transformation when I took control, the easier it was on him.

His confidence seemed to have grown too. The way he carried himself was much more self assured, but he still held the wonderful childlike personality that made him so likeable. I could tell that his puppy dog eyes were still lethal weapons that no one could resist.

"What's happened to Anzu," I asked, having noticed that she wasn't even anywhere in the school. Yugi, Jou and Honda all groaned in unison. I raised an eyebrow, curious about what would cause them to so that.

"Did she finally annoy you guys to the point that you wanted to strangle her?" Bakura asked, obviously enjoying that thought. I gave him a reproving look.

"Don't worry Yami," Yugi said. "It's true, we were about to strangle her. She literally jumped us with a new friendship speech every five minutes. We all agreed that it was important, but there wasn't any need to go to that extreme. Then she was practically stalking me! I was afraid to leave the house to get some groceries for grandpa at one point. The worst part was that she wouldn't stop going about how she thought that homosexuality was wrong! I mean…"

"Homosexuality?" the other two yamis, Bakura and Marik, and I interrupted at the same time. Big modern words like that were not familiar to us.

"That's when someone likes another person of the same gender," Yugi quickly explained.

"Oh, gay people," the three of us said at the same time.

"Why was she going on about that?" Malik asked.

"That's right, we haven't told you yet, have we Malik?" He shook his head. Yugi giggled and Jou began grinning ear to ear.

"Well then," Yugi continued. "You should ask Honda."

We all looked at Honda and found that he was blushing. I was even more confused now than I was before.

"Did you have to put me in the spotlight on me, Yug? Having all of them staring at me is kind of embarrassing." He only grinned and waited for Honda to start speaking again. "Well, I need to leave. Lunch is almost over and I promised that we could hang out before it ended. You guys just tell them."

I could have sworn that demons or something were at his heels with how fast he ran away. I had no clue what was going on, and I was really wondering why Honda's face was beet red as he ran.

"Would someone please explain what the hell is going on already?" Bakura looked ready to kill someone.

"Okay, but you won't believe it," Yugi giggled again. "Honda and Otogi are dating. Have been for several months."

Bakura, Marik, Malik and I fell over like characters in those shows that I remembered Yugi watching. I believe that it was called anime.

"How did that happen," I asked, beyond shocked. "Weren't they both going after Jou's sister, Shizuka?"

"Jou should explain. They pretty much owe it all to him." He was no longer able to control his laughter and almost choked himself trying to breath. I didn't think our reactions were that comical, so I figured that the story was funny.

"Sure. You see, it happened at Yugi's Christmas party," Jou began. "They had been arguing like crazy about would get her under the mistletoe and kiss her. Finally, Yugi made a compromise. All three of them would stand under it and they would both kiss one of her cheeks at the same time. I decided to play a prank on them, so I pulled Shizuka out of the way at the last minute. They accidentally kissed each other and almost made out in front of everyone that was there. Honda asked Otogi out about a week later."

"You should have seen him when he did. We're all amazed that he didn't faint when Otogi said "Yes". He had to lie down for a while afterward, but they've both been really happy." Yugi smile wider as he thought back to this, at one point, impossible occurrence.

"If they're happy, than what is Anzu's problem?" I couldn't fathom what could possibly be wrong with that. They were happy with their decision and, from the way Honda ran to meet up with Otogi, they really enjoyed being with each other and couldn't really stand being apart for very long.

"Don't ask me," Jou said, shaking his head in disbelief. "I don't' have a clue. The entire school knows and nobody else seems to have a problem with it."

"Where is she now?"

"She went to a school in New York. Her parents are there too. She calls me every now and then, but it still seems uncomfortable to talk to her," Yugi sighed. "I don't know how Honda can just take hearing those things from her. She makes it sound like he has some kind of illness that needs to be treated."

There was so much more that I wanted to ask, but, unfortunately, the bell rang.

The rest of the school day passed slowly. I had spent five thousand years locked in my own tomb with nothing to do but stare at the walls and I still never thought that anything was as bad as waiting for the last bell to ring that day. I experienced such splendid relief as the annoying buzz ran through the air.

It was painful, though, when we all went our separate ways to go home. I wanted to talk to everyone, but I knew that they needed to go about their lives.

"How are the shop and your grandfather doing?" I asked as Yugi and I walked to his house.

"They're well."

"That's good." Then a thought popped into my head. "Are the others gay too?"

"Well, Shizuka is going out with Mai. Don't tell Jou though. Shizuka and Mai want to tell him themselves the next time that they come to visit." I blinked a few times. I always thought that Mai liked Jou. I was being thrown through a lot of loops that day.

"What about the others?"

"Ryou told us that he is when we were trying to help Honda relax before he asked Otogi out. Honda was terrified that people might find the fact that he was gay disgusting so Ryou told him to make him feel more normal and not as alone." I could easily imagine that. Ryou was always such a nice person and a very good friend. "Jou is gay too, I think. I've caught him staring at guys before and I swear that he ogles at Kaiba sometimes without thinking."

Another anime fall.

"You think that Jou likes Kaiba!" I swear my eyes must have been three sizes larger than normal.

"As I said, I've seen him staring at Kaiba and, lately, it seems that he starts fights with him just to get his attention. I think that Kaiba's insults are really starting to hurt him too. Other people calling him those names does not bother him at all."

Taking all that Yugi told me into account, I thought about this strange possibility. I also thought back to earlier at lunch. He seemed different than before. His soul seemed calmer, which was good, but his heart had also changed and his gaze did turn to Kaiba a lot when we sitting talking.

"I think that you may be right Yugi."

"It's terrible though. I don't think that Kaiba feels the same way. I really don't want Jou to get hurt." His eyes were beginning to tear up with his concern.

"Don't worry," I reassured. Just as I had noticed a change in Jou's heart, I had noticed a change in Kaiba's too. "They're both changing, and once they realize that for themselves, I believe that it will turn out for the best and they will be happy."

"Thank you," Yugi said, hugging me and digging his head into my shoulder. "By the way, I really missed you and I'm really happy that you're back."

"Me too," I said, returning the embrace and running my hand through his hair. I could feel him nuzzle into the crook of my neck.

Breaking apart, we continued walking to the game shop. It was such a relief to see it again as we approached its door, the warm feeling of finally being home after so long swept through me.

"Grandpa, I'm home," Yugi called out since his grandfather wasn't in the front. "I brought someone with me. You'll never guess who!"

I gave him a small reproving look, but couldn't stay dissatisfied with him when he looked so cute giggling as his grandfather began venturing through the house to get to us.

"Is it Ryou," he asked. "It's been a while since he came to visit."

"Nope." I couldn't help chuckling quietly as Yugi giggled to himself again. "Not even close."

"Then who?" he asked and then, finally made it through to where he could see us. He dropped the box he was carrying and stared at me in shock and awe.

"Hello, Soguroku," I said pleasantly, trying not to laugh. "It's nice to see you again."

Seto POV

I was in my limo with Mokuba on the way to my business, Kaiba Corp. Again, I was on my laptop, working out some bugs in the new software I was designing for my duel disks.

"Hey, brother, look! It's Honda and Otogi!" he called out suddenly. I looked up briefly and saw that they were, indeed right outside the limo.

They were going into a local café and holding hands. I could see them laughing at something one of them said and they looked as though they were having the time of their lives.

"Disgusting," I said going back to my work. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mokuba sticking his tongue out at me.

"If you're talking about them being gay then you're a hypocrite." I sighed and looked up at him to respond. So what if I was gay? I owned the largest gaming company in the world and millions (at the least) used the other inventions I had come out with to make their everyday lives easier. If the public didn't like it, too bad for them.

"I wasn't referring to their sexuality. I was talking about how they are walking around as if they don't have a care in the world and are the only people in it."

"You know, you'll probably be just like them when you find the right guy." Then his face when from somber to amused. "Speaking of which, have you confessed to Jou yet?"

"Stop being ridiculous Mokuba." I seriously couldn't figure out why he seemed so determined to get me with Jou lately. It was absurd.

At last, the limo came to a stop in front of my office building. I waited for the driver to open the door and walked into the building.

As I walked through to get to the elevator on my way to my private office I was greeted respectfully with a bow by all of the employees I passed. I knew that most of them wanted something from me, but they knew that there was mo way in hell that I allowed anything to be an opening for them to get it. I was universally feared and respected.

"Good afternoon Mr. Kaiba," my secretary greeted me at the elevator.

"What's on the agenda today?" she glanced at her clip board and began reading everything off to me.

"A Brazilian gaming company has sent a request for a contract, some new ideas for games have come in, and a report on the construction progress of the new Kaiba Land Park has arrived." I nodded and proceeded into my office where the documents were waiting for me on my desk.

A few hours later, I was finally done with all of the annoying paperwork and tested out the modifications to the software I was working on. I was leaving to go home to my mansion, my thoughts centered around Mokuba. I needed to make sure he got his homework done, had eaten and gotten to bed at a halfway decent time.

I was mere feet from my limo when I got a strange feeling. I wasn't sure what it could possibly mean, so I just brushed it off. That's when I noticed that the man standing next to my limo wasn't my usual driver.

"Who are…?" my question was never finished. As soon as I went to speak, I felt something pierce the skin on my neck and the entire world went dark.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello, sadistic-neko here! Sorry that it takes so long to update. You see, I already have like five more chapters written, but my attention span (which is worse than Jou's) doesn't help me to remember to update very well. If anyone is actually reading this, I will try my best to update as much as I can before the 14th. After that don't expect an update until August because I will be out of state and will not have access to any of my stories.

Bakura: (throws hard object at Sadistic-neko's head) shut up already! This next chapter is about Ryou and me!

Ryou: (walks in and hugs Bakura) calm down, she had to get this message out because she didn't want to waste a chapter on an author's note. (looks to sadistic-neko waiting for disclaimer) sigh. Since it looks like you knocked her out I'll do it. Yu-Gi-Oh does not belong to sadistic-neko and I hope you enjoy this new chapter!

Bakura POV (that same day)

I walked with Ryou to his house. I was surprised, to say the least, when he suggested that I stay with him. I had done such terrible things to him, ranging from possessing his body to hurting his friends, but he didn't seem all that uncomfortable walking next to me.

When we were almost to his house, some punks approached us. One look told me that they were disgusting, greedy delinquents that were going to be in a world of pain if they even thought about doing anything to Ryou or me. I glanced at Ryou and saw that he was shivering.

"Hello Ryou," one of them said. "Do you some money for us?" That's he noticed me. "I didn't know that you had a twin. Good, more money for us."

"Have these idiots been bothering you?" I asked, outraged at how disrespectfully they were talking to us. He nodded his head timidly and that was all the answer I needed.

"Do you and your twin have money of not?" the fool demanded. I got behind him and twisted his arm behind his back.

"For one, I'm not Ryou's twin." I glared at all of the other members of his group that were attempting to approach me and free their bastard leader. "For another, you're not getting anything from either one of us. Do you understand you pathetic wretches?"

I let go of his arm and all of the losers charged me at once. The idiots stayed in one condensed area, so it was easy to hit them all at one and knock them out.

"How…?" Ryou began to ask.

"I think that we should just get to the house." With that, we began to just walk again. The rest of the trip was spent in silence.

When we reached the house, I couldn't describe the relief I felt. It meant that I wouldn't have to worry about some more annoyances like the one earlier. That, and, Ryou's house was the closest thing to a home that I had. I had to admit that I missed it.

"How did you do that earlier?" he asked as soon as the door closed, turning to face me. "Please tell me that you didn't use shadow magic."

"Don't worry, I didn't."

"Then, how?" he seemed amazed. Was it that hard to believe that I could beat the shit out of punks like those without using shadow magic? Did he think that I even used it to tie my shoes?

"You pick up a few things when you grow up surrounded by thieves." It was the truth. I had learned many things that I can't say that I'm entirely proud of, but it was all I could do to stay alive at the time.

"Oh." He paused, clearly uncomfortable with what had happened. "Um, would you like anything to eat? You guys weren't able to get anything for lunch."

"Sure, thanks." He looked shocked again. What was it this time? "What?"

"Wow, you said thanks." Great. Apparently civil manners were something that I wasn't supposed to have either.

"What's so amazing about that?"

"Sorry, it's just that all the other times that you were around, you were so cruel. It's just shocking that you are actually being nice to me and using manners." He blushed, feeling embarrassed about, possibly, offending me.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter." He sighed and then led me into the kitchen to pick out something to eat. After about half an hour, we decided on what to make and had the ingredients together.

Ryou then went to get some of the utensils that we needed. He reached up to get one of the pots out, having to stand on the tips of his toes to reach high enough. All of the pots and pans began to fall out.

"Oh no!" I screamed in my mind. "Ryou!"

As fast as I could, I ran to him and pulled him out of the way. He ended up in my arms, clutching my shirt as if his life depended on it.

"Are you okay?" I asked, my worry almost taking complete control of me. "You didn't get hurt anywhere, right?"

"N-no," he stuttered. I could feel his heart beating wildly against my chest. I hugged him tighter, surprising him.

"That's good. If anything happens to you while I'm around, I get shipped back to the shadow realm. Not to mention that you've been through enough already."  
"Since when have you been so nice," he asked. To my amazement, he hadn't tried to escape from my hold yet.

"I wasn't always such a terrible person if you'd be willing to believe that," I spoke quietly. "It was when Zork possessed me that I turned into the total bastard that I was. Some of it I can't blame on him, but growing the way I did, I would love to see how you'd turn out."

"You know," he spoke even softer than I did. "When Yugi and the others got back from ancient Egypt after fighting you and Zork, Yugi told me what happened to your home." I stiffened a little. "I can't find it in myself to hate you for the decisions you made. I completely understand. I was amazed at how strong you were to overcome the sorrow you must have faced and found a way to survive. I never would have been able to do that."

"It's nice to know that someone understands. I never wanted to hurt any of you. I just couldn't stop myself. My hatred towards the Pharaoh and his family, along with Zork's influence just kept controlling me, and I couldn't really think for myself anymore. I grew to hate myself and that just made it all the worse."

"You don't know this, but every time that you sent me to the shadow realm, I always felt some strange sorrow emanating from somewhere I couldn't find. It always seemed to be calling out to me. I think that it was some subconscious part of you that wanted to stop everything, but I wasn't able to understand it. I wished I had. It would have prevented so much suffering. I know that, despite all of the pain we went through, yours was worse." He hugged me, as if trying to hold me together.

"Thank you." Feeling his embrace was strangely warm. I couldn't remember being as happy and comfortable as I was, holding Ryou and him hugging me, telling me that he knew everything wasn't my fault.

"I'm happy that you got to come back. It's nice to see the kind side of you that's sorry for everything he did."

We stood there for a while, just enjoying the feeling of finally being able to release and knowing that the other understood and was willing to help in anything the other needed.

"Are you crying?" I heard him ask suddenly. Confused, I reached one hand up and found that there really was tears running down my face.

"I'm just happy that you've forgiven me and understand what I went through." Feeling way too wimpy by all that had just happened, I said, "Tell anyone about this and I will happily send you to the shadow realm again."

He knew that I wouldn't do that again and could tell that there was no way in hell that I wanted anyone to think that I had gotten soft.

Jou POV

The morning after the yamis and Malik returned was weird. I actually woke up early and was ready to get to school with plenty of time to spare. That never happened!

After eating breakfast, slowly for once, I began walking to school. I knew that I would there before most of the other students, but Yugi usually got to school early, I was just going to wait for him and Yami, Ryou and Bakura.

As I walked, I noticed something on the ground. It 2000 yen! (I have no clue how much that actually is:( Sad, cry) I was having such good luck today, meaning that something bad was sure to happen. Luck that good was never followed by anything pleasant.

Pushing that thought away, I continued on my way to school. No use being pessimistic.

I entered the classroom just as the teacher sat down at his desk. He looked shocked to see me there so early. It was kind of comical. Speaking of comics, I pulled a manga out to pass the time until Yugi and the others arrived.

After a while I got the feeling that something strange was going on. It plagued my mind for a few moments before I realized that I hadn't heard any "mutt" comments or sarcastic congratulations on being early for once.

There was no way in hell that Kaiba would pass something like that up! I looked and found that he wasn't in his seat.

I knew that it couldn't have been because of a meeting, because I was forced to sit next to the teacher's desk, I always heard when he told the teacher in advance that he would be absent.

If it wasn't that, then was he sick? Had something happened to him? He did have many enemies, being the CEO of a major company, so did any of them get him? Was he alright?

As my mind quieted down a little, I blinked. Why had I been thinking that? Why was I worried about him? He was a total bastard that took every chance he had to put me down.

Lately I hadn't been able to understand myself. I constantly found myself staring at Kaiba a lot. All of the time my mind drifted towards him, wondering about stupid things like what he would keep in his room and what he does when he isn't buried in his work.

I even accidentally saw him getting dressed for P.E. once and blushed red as a tomato. He didn't even notice that I was there, but every now and then I thought back to that without knowing why. I had to admit that he did have a very hot body. Yes, I admit that I am gay, if you have a problem with it, too bad!

"Jou! Earth to Jou!" someone yelled. It broke me out of my self-interrogation and I looked up confused, wondering who was calling my name. It was Yugi and Yami.

"Are you okay, Jou?" Yami asked as soon as he knew that they had my attention. "We've been trying to get your attention for a while now."

"Yeah, we were starting to…" he stopped. That was weird. What would make him stop mid-sentence?

I turned in the direction that he was gapping at and my jaw hit the floor.

Bakura and Ryou were walking into the classroom together, and I know that since they lived in the same house it shouldn't have been so weird, but Bakura looked relaxed. I was amazed. I had never seen him like that. I was so used to seeing him shoot death glares at everyone. That day was just getting more unusual as the minutes passed.

A few hours later, during lunch, I was sitting under our usual sakura tree. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened since Ryou walked in with Bakura, but I still had a strange feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Kaiba had yet to come to school. He always came to school after a meeting to annoy me. There had to be something wrong! He wasn't one to get sick very often and I knew that, even if he was sick he would be an idiot and come to school.

I still couldn't figure out why I was so worried about him, but it was maddening. I began to wish that he would show up already! For some reason I wanted to see his face, to know that he was okay. Hell I wanted to argue with him when he got here too.

That was another thing that I needed to add to the weird things I was doing in reference to Kaiba. I was starting arguments with him, and I thought that I even knew why. It was because, when we were arguing, all of his attention was on me. I wanted that for some unfathomable reason.

Deciding to brush it off for the moment, I looked up at Yugi, who was smiling, like always. I almost did an anime fall as I noticed that he was sitting in Yami's lap, leaning against his chest. I knew there was something going on between them! Hell, the day before I was waiting for them to start making out!

I chuckled to myself, feeling happy for the two of them. It was nice to see Yugi with someone that would protect him and love him no matter what. I even told Yugi when Honda asked Otogi out that if anyone that Yugi wanted to date (guy or girl) didn't sit well with me he could forget it! I know that it seemed harsh and overprotective, but I owed so much to him and he was like a brother to me, so I couldn't help it.

Escaping from my thoughts, I looked around our little group, though, with how many people were there I guessed that I couldn't call it little anymore, and saw Marik fall over, unconscious. After him followed Malik, Bakura, Ryou, Yami and Yugi. Knowing that there had to be someone behind this close by, looked around frantically. I finally found him.

He wore a white lab coat and had wiry red hair. I wasn't able to see his face because he had a scope up to it. One to a tranquilizer gun. As soon as I found him, I felt myself getting hit and darkness overcome me.


	4. Chapter 4

Hiiiiii. Sadistic-neko here and I would like to say that I am very proud of myself for remembering to update so soon. As I said before, I will try my hardest to update as much as I can before I go out of state. (looks towards the characters) Why don't you tell the readers about the chapter?

Jou: (glomps Seto) our favorite billionaire finally leaves denial land!!

Seto: (pulls Jou to a sitting position in his lap) a certain puppy is clumsy and weird stuff starts happening.

Sadistic-neko: all together now!!!!

Everyone: Sadistic-neko does not own yu-gi-oh. We hope that you all enjoy the chapter!

Seto POV

I awoke in an unfamiliar place. There were strange metal objects all around me that I had absolutely no idea what they were. I could tell that there were other people in the room, but my vision was too fuzzy to see them very well.

Stiff, I tried to move and found that I was chained to the wall. I was able to adjust myself a little, but I was still restricted to a very limited space.

Finally able to see straight, I looked up to get a better look the other occupants of the room. I would have banged my forehead against the wall as I realized just who they were, but the stupid chains kept me from doing so. I guessed that they were better than no one.

The first ones that my eyes fell upon was the two with the spiking tri-colored hair. Then there were the two with snowy hair that now hid their faces. The third was the two with the platinum hair. As my gaze found the last one, I could feel my heart stop in my chest. It was Jou!

What was going on? Why was he here? What did whoever the bastard that kidnapped us do to him? Was he okay?

All of these questions swam around in my head, demanding an answer. I found myself plotting different ways to make the son of a bitch who did this to him's life a living hell! I wasn't going to allow anyone to get away with doing something so awful to my puppy!

As my head cooled for a moment, more questions popped into my head. Where had that come from? Why was I so worried about the mutt? Why was I suddenly so protective of him? Since when was he _my_ puppy?

I had no answers to any of them, but, as I lay there staring at him, I could feel the urge to protect him grow stronger. I wanted more than anything at the moment, I wanted to get him to safety. I wanted so badly to go over to him and make sure that he was okay, but the damn chains prevented me from doing so.

Being able to do nothing else, I stared at him. He was facing in my direction, asleep. Just as always, he looked like a cute puppy. As far as I could see, there were no injuries. Then I noticed a bandage on his arm from an injection of some kind. I noticed a similar one on my arm as well.

"You know, he's been worrying about you all day. He kept glancing at the door, just waiting for you to come." The voice was a deep familiar one.

"So?" I asked. "Is there any reason that you're telling me this, Yami?"

"No," he chuckled. "I just thought that you might want to know."

"Why would I want to know that?"

"You should know by know that it's pointless trying to hide things involving the heart from me. I can sense the changes that your heart has gone through since I went to the afterlife, and the ones that you have overcome it in the past few minutes alone. You are beginning to realize what has happened to you without your understanding or knowledge."

I couldn't respond to that. Was I really going through such a transformation? Was the subtle changes in myself that I had been ignoring all of this time the signs of such an occurrence?

Within the past few months, I had found myself fascinated in his daily life. Wondering what he was thinking and other things that should have been stupid to me. I even noticed when there were small changes in him, whether it be a hair cut or if he seemed slightly less cheerful. Even calling him mutt seemed different. It had, somehow become an affectionate pet name. It was nice to argue with him, not because I was trying to make him feel worthless, but because I was getting to interact with him.

Could what Mokuba been saying about how I should confess to Jou, that I loved him, been true? Could I have been in love with the one person that was a rival that I thought that I hated for long?

I looked at him once more, taking in the image of his shaggy blonde hair, his lean, yet strong body, and his lips that were, at the moment, slightly open as he slept. I so wished that I could see his eyes. The deep pools of warm honey that were so easy to lose myself in, and knew the answer. Yes, I could be in love with him. There was a thin line between love and hatred indeed.

"You see now, don't you. Happiness and love come in strange places, don't they." He sound so happy. I wondered if it was because I had to admit that he was right, or if he was happy that I finally realized something that could easily make me a much happier person.

"Yes, but how do I know that he feels the same. If he does or doesn't can and will decide whether learning this was good or bad. It can easily end in despair if he doesn't." I couldn't imagine it. What would I do if he rejected me? Now that any feeling towards him had breached the walls I had built around my heart, could I handle it if they were crushed?

Then I heard someone grumble and I turned to find that Yugi was waking. Rather slowly, but still.

"Stupid light," I heard him mumble before going to move to try covering his eyes. He was surprised when he found that he wasn't able to move his arm. He woke up instantly. "Where are we?"

"Don't know, but we do need to escape soon. We should wait until Bakura gets up to make plans. He would be able to get us out."

"I can't do anything until I get these damn cuffs off." We turned in the direction of the irritated voice. Bakura was, obviously, awake and was fiddling with the cuffs that bound him to the wall. "I'm going to kill the bastard that put me in these."

As a few hours passed, everyone but Jou had woken up. We were all talking about pointless things, trying to fight the sleeping medicine that still ran through our veins. At last my anxiety got the best of me and I yelled out, trying to get Jou to awaken so we could come up with a plan to get him out of this danger.

"Wake up already pup!" That didn't work. I got the feeling that a bomb going off in the next room couldn't wake him, so I kicked a nearby object towards him and that woke him soon enough.

"Where…?" he began. A shocked look crossed his face. "Was that Kaiba that just yelled?"

"Yes pup," I responded. "Over here."

It made me so happy to finally see those wonderful honey orbs that belonged to the person that could now either make me the happiest person in the world or send my crashing down into a deep black despair. The person that now shared with my brother as the focal point of my world was awake and seemed to be unharmed.

My moment of relief was cut short as the door opened to reveal a woman with abnormally light blonde hair (hell, it was lighter than Marik and Malik's, barely darker than Bakura and Ryou's) tied at the nape of her neck and glasses sat on the bridge of her nose. She wore a white lab coat, meaning that she was either the one behind this or was working for them.

"It seems that our little test subjects are awake. Some interesting ones too. First the boss brings in the oh-so-powerful _Seto Kaiba_ and then the king of games himself and a counterpart. Not to mentions the lovely albinos and the Egyptians." The smile she wore made me sick. It clearly stated that she saw us as nothing but animals that were to be tested on. Then she turned to Jou and a lustful glint began to shine in her eyes. "The blonde is, by far the most exquisite. I wonder if the boss will allow me to have some fun with him once the results for the DNA testing comes in."

I couldn't believe my ears! That Bitch wanted to have her way with my puppy! There was no way in hell that I was going to allow that!

While she was looking the other way, I kicked her legs, causing her to stumble. She fell over right next to Jou, who proceeded to kick her head hard enough to knock her out.

"Nice," Marik, Malik, Yami and Bakura said at the same time. Yugi and Ryou didn't seem to approve of the method but were happy enough with the end result.

"How's the cuffs coming Bakura?" Yami asked.

"Cuffs?" he asked in return, lifting his hands up and letting the cuffs fall to the floor.

Jou POV

I knew something bad was going to happen. I was right. First we get kidnapped, then I wake up to Kaiba yelling. Oh, let's not forget the best part! I was about to be raped by some crazy lab chick!

At least Kaiba saved me. I have to admit that it was very kind of him and that he looked so cool being heroic like that. Not that I was going to admit it to him anytime soon. His ego was big enough.

Bakura had just gotten out of his cuffs and was freeing us, starting with Ryou. Once we were all free, the yamis got together and began discussing a way out. At last, Bakura and Marik got evil looks on their faces. This couldn't be good.

"I do believe that this is an emergency, wouldn't you guys?" Yami asked and I could, somehow, feel the huge amount of power coming off of him and the others. Then came the big boom.

They released their power and blew a hole through the wall, and all of the ones after it. To say it was overkill would be a serious understatement. Those walls must have been half a foot thick and was made of steel, yet they must have blown through five of them.

"Shall we get going?" I nodded and tried to stand up, but my legs decided that they had other plans in mind.

I collapsed, my legs still not yet awake. I could feel Kaiba's gaze on me too, which you know made that embarrassing situation all the better. I couldn't believe that that was happening.

"Need help, pup?" I didn't even bother yelling at him for calling me a puppy, it would only make this worse. I just looked away and was surprised when Kaiba offered me a hand to pull me up.

I grabbed it, confused, and let him help me. Since when did Kaiba help me? What brought that on?

Again I fell, but this time Kaiba caught me. It felt strange when one of his strong hands gripped my arm and his other arm wrapped around my waist. It was comforting, somehow and left me blushing. Then the weirdest thing happened and he actually smiled!

"It doesn't look like you can walk right now, huh?" I really wanted to disagree with that, but it was true and feeling his breath hit my face was very distracting. Not to mention that his smile was very dazzling too.

Then the least thing that I expected happened and Kaiba literally threw me onto his back. I knew that I was kind of skinny and all, but it was kind of sad how easily he did it.

"You just rest," he said, his voice warm and kind. Then he began running to catch up with the yamis, who held their hikaris on their backs. Following their leads, I decided to sleep.

Somehow perfectly comfortable, I nuzzled my head into the Kaiba's neck and shoulder. It surprised me how broad his shoulders really were and how considerate he was. Sensing that I was growing too tired to hold on, he used one of his hands pull me further up on his back and I could tell that he was paying attention to my every move, to ensure that I wouldn't fall off.

"Thank you," I said before falling asleep to the peaceful rhythm of his strides.

Seto POV

I felt him nuzzle his head against my neck and was so happy when I herd him utter the words, "Thank you". In fact, I was the happiest I had ever been. He had yet to get mad at me for calling him pup, and, as far as I could tell, didn't mind my touch.

"No, problem," I replied. It didn't seem that he heard me though. I could feel his breath slow and even out against my neck.

"What's the plan," Marik asked once we were about a mile of so away from the building we escaped from. "Getting out of the building once won't help us much if we get caught again."

"I have a safe house that we could hide in for a while," I called out so the others could hear me. All of the yamis stopped and looked at me, waiting for me to continue. It seemed that Yugi, Malik and Ryou had fallen asleep on their respective yami's back.

"Where is it?" Yami asked.

"Probably pretty far from here, but I think that your shadow magic should be able to get us there without much of a problem."

He nodded and pulled out his deck, scanning through it until he found what he was looking for. He took out that card and I could feel his magic swirling around him.

"Come forth, Dark Magician!" he called out and a bright flash of light blinded us for a moment.

When we could see again, we were greeted by the image of the Dark Magician kneeling in front of Yami.

"How may I serve you sir?" he asked, his head still bowed respectfully.

"We need to get to Kaiba's safe house. Do you think that you could get us there?"

"If you would be kind enough to use the magic box, then it shouldn't be a problem once I get it exact location." Yami nodded and began searching through his deck again.

A few moments later, after I had given the magician the location of the safe house, we arrived. Everyone looked at it in shock.

The safe house was an old cabin that looked like it shouldn't even be able to stand. There were holes visible all over it and the windows were cracked.

"I don't think that your safe house is very safe," Marik remarked and the other two nodded in agreement. "Are you sure that it won't collapse on us as soon as we close the door?"

"Just shut up and get moving. Or do you want to carry them around all day?" they followed me after that.

I walked up to the door, pushing a small, almost unnoticeable button that revealed a pad that held a fingerprint recognition system. Once it confirmed my identity, the door opened. The inside was worse than the outside.

There was dirt everywhere and Marik's comment on it collapsing didn't seem too unbelievable. The door to the only bedroom had a hinge broken and the frame was cracked and rotted. It looked like no one had been here in decades. The others just stood gaping at it.

"Do you honestly think that I would let Mokuba stay in a dump like this? The top is just a decoy." I almost laughed because they looked like they were scolding themselves for thinking that something of mine was so simple and that a dump like this belonged to me. "Just follow me."

I approached the closet and opened a special elevator with another finger print recognition system.

"Mokuba and I are the only people that can open it. He's the only person, other than me, that even knows about this place."

We all walked into the elevator, feeling a sense of ease as it rapidly descended. The doors opened to reveal an advanced looking structure and extravagantly decorated walls.

"Take them this way. The Bitch at the lab said something about DNA testing and it looks like we have all been injected with something, so I need some blood samples to figure what they did to us." Nodding, they followed me to the medical room and woke their slumbering hikaris.

"Jou, you need to wake up," I said softly while shaking his shoulder lightly once I was able to lay him down. I could see him stir, but it looked like it would take a bit more effort on my part.

I inwardly chuckled, remembering how much fun the teachers normally had trying to wake him when he fell asleep in the middle of class. Sometimes it seemed like a bomb blowing up in the next room couldn't wake him. Then I got an idea.

"Jou, its lunch time. They're serving hamburgers today." Once done with the quiet, yet obviously false, statement, I backed up, waiting for the possibly explosive reaction that I was sure would ensue. He sure didn't disappoint.

As soon as I finished speaking, he sat up with a look of gleeful anticipation. Then he looked around at the unfamiliar room and fixed his eyes on me, tilting his head in confusion.

"Where…?" he began to ask, but, before he could finish, his eyes widened in realization and shock. He looked like he was having a meltdown and began to shake slightly. "Where are we? Are we safe?"

"Yes," I said, firmly, but gently, grabbing his shoulders, forcing him to look at me directly. "We are at one of my safe houses."

A few minutes later, after Jou had calmed down and the yamis had awakened their hikaris, I was explaining what we had to do until the time when we came up with a good enough plan to get us home and get whoever kidnapped us. They all sat silently as I spoke.

"We should be safe here until we can leave. This place only has four rooms, so all of us will have to share with someone, but we have clean and hot water and there should be clothes in the rooms. I can't guarantee that they'll fit like a glove, but they will have to do. Is it fair to assume that the yamis want to stay with their hikaris?" They all nodded. "Well then Jou, it looks like you and I are sharing a room."

I looked towards him, holding my breath in anticipation. Would he be hell-bent against it? Would he not mind? I could hardly contain myself as a thoughtful look came upon his face.

After a moment of silence, a huge grin spread across his face. That was a good sign.

"Yay! I get to annoy Kaiba all night!"

Well, that wasn't the reaction I was expecting, but hell, I wasn't going to complain. At least he hadn't gotten pissed and seemed okay with the arrangement.


	5. Chapter 5

Sadistic-neko again. To those who are reading this, which, at the moment, looks like no one (Cries) here's another Chapter. (Cries even harder) does nobody like me or something? Why isn't anyone reviewing?

Ryou: (walks over and pats Sadistic-neko's back) It's okay. I'm sure that people like you just fine. Give them time.

Sadistic-neko: (Stops crying) you really think so?

Ryou: (smiles- sparkle sparkle-) yeah, so lets do the disclaimer.

Both; Sadistic-neko does not own Yu-Gi-Oh and we hope that you enjoy this new chapter.

"Now that sleeping arrangements are taken care of, it's time for everyone wearing long sleeves to roll them up." The hikaris and Jou looked at me confused. The yamis remembered what I said earlier when their hikaris were asleep and complied, taking off their jackets. "I have to take blood samples from everyone to figure out the hell those bastards did to us."

Now understanding what I was talking about, they stopped looking at me like I had grown a second head and also took their jackets off.

They lined up, yamis first, then hikaris. Jou somehow ended up as the last person. Yami was the first person, followed by Bakura and Marik. As soon as I was finished with them, they went to stand next to their hikaris, glaring at me when their counterpart winced in pain. I was a little worried that it might hurt Jou, but after I had finished with no sign that it was doing so, I drew some of my own blood and put the labeled samples into the machine into that would reveal any abnormalities.

"I doubt that we will get any results until morning," I said, glancing around our little misfit group. "I don't know about you, but I'm about ready to get in a shower and was off all the dirt and gods know what else that got all over us earlier."`

With a few nods of agreement we entered the hallway and, after quite a bit of heated arguments, we chose our rooms trying to put today's incident behind long enough to relax and sleep. Worries and plots for revenge could wait till everyone was clean and rested.

**Bakura P.O.V.**

As soon as we entered the room, Ryou and I were left staring in shock. The room was covered in dark colors (i.e. red, black, purple ect.), but was, somehow, cozy. It had a very relaxed atmosphere, and almost seemed as though it was lived in.

There was little furniture, but what was there looked very comfortable. Among this was a, at the least, queen sized bed, a couch and a bookshelf.

Across the room, I could see two doors. One, obviously had to lead to those bathrooms that the priest said was in every room and the other door, I assumed, led to the closet.

"You mind if I take a shower first?" I asked, calling over my shoulder. Once I realized that Ryou wasn't right behind me anymore I looked around and found him by the bookshelf, staring at the titles of its contents intently.

"Go ahead," he said once the words reached him. "I want to see what kind of reading material there is here."

Knowing better than to try and get in the way of Ryou and books I headed into the bathroom without another thought. I swear the kid was normally very soft spoken, but if you bothered him when he was really into a book, he'd turn into a monster and try to take your head off.

The bathroom was almost as spectacular as the actual room. There was both a bathtub and a shower, and an enormous assortment washing products.

Knowing that, since there was so much filth on me at the moment, the water would turn to mud the instant I got in, I decided to use the shower. Grabbing a random scent and stripping I stepped under the hot flow of water.

Allowing to water to run over me and relax my sore and tense muscles, I tried to clear my mind of all the things that pissed me off that day. For example, Ryou being kidnapped. I wouldn't have minded so much if it were only me, considering that I spent most of my life in Egypt in tombs stealing various valuables, but Ryou was too kind for something like that.

Yes, Ryou didn't deserve whatever the bastard did. He was so forgiving, hell he even forgave me for all the shit I had done to him!

At least there were also good things to think about too.

Ryou had forgiven me, I had been so worried that he wouldn't be able to find it in himself to. Not after all the pain I had caused him. Then he let me live with him and we were even becoming friends.

Finally just the dark tan that I had from living in Egypt, and not the pitch black color I was when stepping in from all the grime I stepped out. It definitely felt good to be clean again. I sure did love the technology that allowed indoor plumbing and heated water.

After drying, I wrapped a towel around my waist and stepped out into the room. There was no point in trying to save the school uniform I had been wearing, so I figured I may as well have just taken advantage of Kaiba's offer and borrow some of the clothes in the closet.

I went to walk towards the closet, but stopped when I noticed that Ryou was lying on the sofa with his hair draped over the arm and his nose in a book. Not being able to resist, I walked over to him to try and figure out what he was reading.

Once at the sofa, I leaned over, trying to see the words on the pages better. The particular page he was on had a very graphic scene of someone being disemboweled and another being tortured. I wasn't surprised in the least to find him reading something like that. I could never figure out such a kind and, most of the time, innocent kid could be so interested in something such as that.

As he felt my wet hair brush against him, he turned his head towards me and shut his book. As our eyes me, I couldn't fathom what the intense emotion that was now burning in them could mean.

"Did you have a nice shower?" he asked, turning his head away. The way he adverted his eyes seemed as though he was deliberating something.

"Yeah," I replied, wondering what could be on his mind. Then I saw him take a deep breath and he locked gazes with me again. This time, though, his eyes seemed to hold more determination.

"You know," he began. "When you were locked away in the shadow realm, I really missed you. Not feeling you there, always somewhere in my mind, observing what was going on around me, was very lonely."

I could feel his breath dancing across my face. The smell was so maddening, purely intoxicating. Combined with the words that were passing through those delicious looking lips that I found myself continuously gazing at, I could barely contain myself. I wanted more than anything to capture those lips and make them mine.

"To tell the truth," he continued. "I've loved you since after duelist kingdom, when I realized that there was, at least, small amount of you that was human and kind."

Once finished, he hung his head, hiding those wonderful pools of chocolate that had been flooded with such intense emotion. It seemed that he was afraid of what my reaction would be. As if he were worried that I would lash out at him because of what he just said.

I couldn't stand seeing him like that. He just seemed too vulnerable. It wasn't right, because I knew what kind of strength he possessed. I knew that he was unbelievably strong. After all, he had to be to be able to put up with me and survive all the evil I contained at the time and still remain sane.

Needing to see him happy again, to show him that I wasn't going to do anything to him because of his feelings, I gently took hold of his chin and lifted his head up to make him look at my face again. He looked on the verge of tears. I moved my hand to rest on his cheek and began to rub soothing circles with my thumb.

"Don't worry," I said reassuringly, the softest smile I could manage playing with my expression. "I'm very happy to hear that you fell that way."

"R-really?" His voice shook as he looked directly in my eyes. He was trying to tell whether or not I was speaking the truth. Tears began to form, happiness and relief washing through him.

"Yes, Ryou, I love you too." I then wrapped an arm around his waist, drawing him closer to me. At last, I closed the small gap between us.

I could feel the emotions that I had been denying for the other albino flowing out of me, and his feelings radiating through him. There had never been anyone that I really cared for before him. Not since I watched my home town being destroyed.

**Jou P.O.V.**

As I walked into the room, I could feel my jaw hit the floor. It was amazing!

The walls were painted a light shade of grey and the soft, plushy rug was a dark shade of blue. There was a desk in the back corner and the comfiest looking bed I had ever seen sat against the furthest most wall. I walked up to it, wondering what it felt like.

Curious, I pressed against it with my hand. It seemed beyond promising, so I leapt onto it. I could have sworn that I died and went to heaven. It felt like I was lying on a cloud. Then I heard chuckling and I turned my head to face Kaiba.

"I take it that you like my bed." I was surprised that his amusement was playing out so openly on his face. Deciding to take advantage of this strange moment of humor I began to joke with him.

"It's so fluffy!" I exclaimed, a big grin adorning my face. "It seems kinds of cold though." I pouted to add to the effect. Kaiba raised one eyebrow and I could tell that he was fighting back a smile.

"Is the puppy trying to say that he's feels lonely on there by himself?" I couldn't believe that he was playing along with me.

"And, if he is?"

"Then I would say that I might have to do something about that, but, since I was the one carrying you earlier and I was the having dig and push my way through that damned forest, I would like to take a shower." I feigned disappointment and his expression shifted into a smirk. I could hear him chuckling all the way to the bathroom.

Now that he was gone, I able to think about all that had happened. The yamis returning, being kidnapped and, last but most certainly not least, the way Kaiba was acting. I was beginning to think that whoever kidnapped us brainwashed him.

I wasn't complaining, but it seemed so unusual for him to be so kind to me. The weirdest part was that this change was only directed towards me. As much as I hated to admit it, I actually really liked this change and was kind of pleased that I was the one he was being nice to. I didn't understand this, but I figured that it was too late to really dwell on it. A lot had happened that day and I was exhausted.

As I pulled the silk blankets over me, I could feel sleep quickly descend upon me. My last thoughts before I fell into a dreamless sleep were of beautiful, clear, Safire eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

Hi everyone! I am back from my mothers now and I am really happy to be able to update this story!

All of Yugioh cast: took you long enough!

Sadistic-neko: sorry! I just got back yesterday and I had to spend all day cleaning my room! I just got done and updating was the first thing I did! If you're so upset than why you try cooling off by telling the readers what they have to look forward to in this chapter then!

Yami: Seto and Jou wake up quite the surprise.

Yugi: Not to mention we finally find out what the evil scientists did to us!

Sadistic-neko: Okay everyone, you what to do!

Everyone: Sadistic-neko does not own Yugioh and we all hope that you enjoy her newest chapter!

I awoke feeling a way that I never felt in the morning. Safe, warm, and I didn't want to move. I could feel something warm next to me and there was something wrapped protectively around me. It felt so comforting that I found myself moving even closer to it. That's when I felt the soft even breathing that was caressing my face, making my hair shift ever so slightly.

Curious, I opened my eyes and looked up to see what was holding me. I had never been so surprised in my life. It was Kaiba's arms that were wrapped around me. I absently noted how strong they were.

His eyes were closed and his expression peaceful. I was so close to him that I could feel his heart beating and, as stated before, I could feel his breath against my face. His slightly parted lips, somehow, captivated me.

I don't know how long I stayed there, staring at him, but, at last, I felt him shift. He tightened his grip on me and I could feel him burry his face in my hair. It was obvious that he wasn't quite

awake yet.

Finally, he opened his eyes. He pulled me away for a second and looked at me confused. Then what was going on dawned on him and he let go of me and scooted away. It was really very comical. Though, for some reason, I was kind of disappointed to have his warmth leave me.

"Sorry," he said, keeping his eyes away from me.

"Well, this morning started interesting." I couldn't help but laugh. Who'd have thought that Kaiba wasn't a morning person? I was learning so many things inadvertently. He was slowing losing that cold, ruthless and indestructible persona.

It was kind of nice to know that there were things about him that confirmed that he was still part of the human race. Then, when I thought about it, I was the only person, other than Mokuba, that had been able to see him like this.

After regaining the ability to breathe and changing, we went to the medical room. No one was in there yet.

"Are the results in yet?" I asked. I could tell that there was something different about me. I just couldn't place it. I watched as Kaiba looked at the computer screen.

"Not yet, but it's almost done." I could tell that he was growing impatient. He wanted to know what the hell was going on just as much, if not more, as I did. "May as well do some thing to entertain ourselves. Do you mind helping me get some things out to do some physical examinations?"

"Why not? There's nothing better to do right now." With that we went to work, only exchanging words when he was telling me were to find something.

About ten minutes later, we had all the equipment out and the others were beginning to arrive, Bakura and Ryou last. As we all got a look at them we couldn't help but stare in shock.

Both, somehow, had black streaks in their hair. Their eyes were fogged over, showing that they were still half asleep, so neither had noticed yet.

"What the hell are you staring at?" Bakura asked, irritated by all the eyes that were on him and his hikari.

"Yours and Ryou's hair," Kaiba said, him being the first to be able to compose their selves. He looked confused for a second and then looked at Ryou.

"What the hell?" he blurted out, obviously surprised by this turn of events.

"What's wrong? Huh?" As Ryou looked over to Bakura, I could swear that his eyes became twice as large. "Okay, something really weird is going on here."

That's when we heard the computer beep and we all waited in anticipation. We could see his brow furrow as he read over the results.

"Holy shit."

"What does it say?" Yami asked, holding Yugi protectively.

"Those bastards put animal DNA in us." Everyone stared at him for a minute, blinking in confusion.

"What kind oft animal DNA?" Ryou asked. He was shaking slightly, as if afraid of what he would hear. I couldn't blame him.

"You and Bakura have White Tiger DNA. Yugi and Yami have lion. Malik and Marik have panther. It looks like Jou and I have wolf."

We stood in silence for a minute, not knowing what to do. So we were now part animal? How the hell were we supposed to cope with that? Once the silence became too uncomfortable, a random thought popped into my heard and I thought that saying it out loud might have lessened the tense atmosphere.

"Does this mean that on full moons Kaiba and I are going to turn into wolf men?" Everybody looked at me for a sec like I suddenly had three eyes and then burst out laughing.

"No, Jou. I don't think that we have to worry about that," Kaiba said after taking a few deep breaths as an effort to compose himself. "Though, as we've already seen from Bakura and Ryou, it will probably change our physical appearance slightly and maybe our instincts."

"At least we know why our hair changed, huh Bakura?" Bakura nodded in agreement.

"Well," Kaiba began after a moment of silence. "I should start doing Physical examinations to figure out how much this is changing us."

A/N: to those of you wondering whay everyone is what animal they are, here is what should be an easy to follow graph that explains everything.

Yami and Yugi (lion): the lion is the king of the jungle and Yami was the Pharaoh.

Bakura and Ryou (white tigers): they both have white hair and I think that they would look so cool with black streaks in their hair.

Marik and Malik (Panthers): I couldn't really think of anything and it just seemed to fit their hair and skin color.

Seto and Jou (Wolves): Jou is always being called a dog and I needed some kind of predator. You have to admit that Jou being a lab or retriever and Seto being a dragon is really commonly used, so I that this might mix it up a bit.

To those of you wondering, yes it only took me like 5 minutes to come up this and no I am not a blonde (no offense to Jou or any blondes that might be reading this) I am actually in mainly advanced classes and I just have the mentality of a five year old! Please review and I hope that you will be waiting for the chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

Lookie here, I got a new chapter up!

The yamis: What has been taking you so long?!

Sadistic-neko: well sorry! School started and I had to go my grandma's wedding where they tried to kill me with a dress that was sized by the worst dress fitter in the history of man! Not to mention that my mom decided to put make-up on me! (shudder) Then my dad and I had to shop for a months worth of groceries and do laundry because he's out on an opening! And my English teacher got switched and I had to do the weeks worth of work that my period missed while still doing all of our other work that she's been giving us!

Seto: You're just using that stuff as an excuse because you were too lazy to type anything new aren't you?

Sadistic-neko: No! I was also reading Inuyasha fan fics thank you very much!

Seto: you are so pathetic. (sighs)

Sadistic-neko: that's it! You no get sex with Jou for at least two more chapters!

Seto: Nooooooooooo!

Sadistic-neko: While Seto is wallowing in depression why don't we do the disclaimer?

Yami, Bakura and Sadistic-neko: Sadistic-neko does not own Yu-Gi-Oh or else there would many more lemons. Hope that you enjoy this new chapter!

**Seto POV**

To think that, only a few days earlier, the only things that I worried about was my company and younger brother, Mokuba. Now I was trying to figure out how to win Jou's heart and how to help our entire little group in coping with whatever the evil bastard that kidnapped us did.

An hour or so had already passed since we found out that we had animal DNA mixed with our own. I sat back rubbing my sore hand and looked at everyone before reading my findings from the Physical examinations to them.

"From the looks of things, we all have fangs, which are _really_ sharp." I gave Ryou a pointed look and went to rub my hand again before Yami kicked my shin.

"Just sit still while I finish putting the bandage on or I swear that I will beat the shit out of you!" scowling, I turned towards Ryou again and found that he was blushing and looked really upset with himself.

"I really am sorry! I didn't mean to bite you!"

"Don't worry about it," I sighed. "At least we know how efficient they are in case we ever need to use them." (I was vaguely wondering when I became such the optimist.)

I readjusted myself in the chair that I was seated in and looked over my clipboard. It was amazing how many obvious changes we had gone through.

"We also have claws."

"Which are also _really _sharp," Marik wined, cradling his bandaged cheek gently in his hand.

"Stop being such a baby!" Malik glared at Marik. "You know that you deserved it!"

Earlier, Marik snuck up behind Malik and licked his ear. That's when Malik spun around to slap him. The blow came up short and he ended up putting a couple of scratches across his counterpart's cheek.

"Last but not least," I said, getting everyone's attention again. "Thanks to Jou, Bakura and Marik, we all know that our senses of hearing and smell are a hell of a lot more sensitive than they were before."

At this, everyone turned to glare at said yamis. Jou had accidentally hit something on my computer and made it let out a high pitched sound that just about left all of us writhing on the floor, covering our ears. We weren't mad at him since he didn't do it on purpose.

Bakura and Marik, on the other hand, were dead meat. They thought that it would be funny to make a stink bomb while I wasn't looking. After one whiff, everyone was running out of the medical room, gagging, because the smell was so overwhelming. Yami and I were contemplating blowing their asses through the roof when we heard a grumbling sound.

We turned to look at the source and found that Jou was standing blushing and taking an extreme interest in his feet. We stared at him, watching him twitch a little, for a moment before he looked up.

"I can't help it!" he exclaimed indignantly. "I'm hungry! It's not like we've had anything to eat since we were kidnapped!"

"Now that you mention it," Marik said, putting his hand on his stomach as it let out a growl of its own.

I had to admit, that since it was brought to my attention, that I was pretty hungry too. I hadn't noticed it earlier because I was so preoccupied with figuring out what the hell happened to us. As was the case, I think, for the others.

"I would love to say that there was enough food for us to eat, but the storage room only has enough food for Mokuba and me."

They looked at me with forlorn expressions and I looked away, not really wanting to see their disappointment. What I saw left me blinking for a minute in amazement.

"Though, from the looks of it, Ryou, Malik and Yugi seem to be exhibiting basic hunting behaviors." Confused, the yamis and Jou looked at the three hikaris and saw that they were playing.

Sure with people like them, I guess that it is to be expected that they would play with each other once they got bored, but this couldn't be normal. After all, they were tackling each other and, basically, looked like a bunch of kittens playing with each other. Witch, to those of you that don't know, is actually their way of practicing hunting habits.

"I guess that we could always try hunting. It would be a good chance to try out our claws and fangs. Not to mention getting accustomed to even having them."

Too hungry to really even care anymore, the others nodded and we all went outside to try our lucks at being predatory animals.

A few hours later left us with full stomachs and blood all over our clothes. Our hunting trip was a huge success. I'm not saying that I just enjoyed slaughtering the deer, but I had to admit that the rush of the hunt was really fun. (Don't worry, I will spare all of you the gory details of our hunt.)

It seemed that the animal DNA in us was really affecting us. Without even thinking about it, Yami took the lead, along with me, and Jou and Yugi were right behind us in an excellent hunting formation. It was completely natural to us.

Now that we had something to eat and we knew that we could take care of ourselves we were making plans to get home.

"It looks like, if we were to leave tonight, that we would be back at Domino within the next few days. We could hunt and collect any kind food that we would need, so feeding ourselves won't be a problem." I looked at everyone, trying to evaluate how ready they were to leave.

"What if the bastard scientist comes after us again?" Yami asked.

"His experiments that he did on us should make that impossible. We would be able to smell and hear anyone trying to sneak up on us now. Catching us by surprise will be impossible."

That was for sure. When we were running through the woods, so much as the slightest sounds caught our attention. We could even hear a squirrel scratching his ear from ten feet away!

"Is everyone clear on how to get to my mansion?" everyone nodded.

"We just follow the marked trees, right?" Ryou asked. I nodded.

"Now that that's clear, let's head out." That was all that they needed to hear. As soon as I finished speaking, they all took off in the direction that would bring us to my mansion.

A few nights later, when we were resting after running and hunting all day, I watched as all of the hikaris, Jou and Bakura and Marik slept. Yami and I had first watch.

Every yami had their respective hikari in their arms as they slept, guarding them. They didn't know how lucky they were to be able to. I was still stuck just watching Jou as he slept. What I would've given to be able to hold him just as they did their loves. (Yes, it was established that every yami and hikari was in love with each other by this point.) I would definitely have been able sleep much better with that reassurance.

"Is that jealousy I sense, Kaiba?" Yami asked. I couldn't even tell if he was being smug of concerned.

"If it is?" my voice was more weary than it was sharp.

"Nothing, but may I ask why?" Yep, that was concern. Leave it to my ancient cousin to start asking me if I'm alright in the dead of night.

"You guys are some really lucky bastards," I sighed.

"Why do you say that?" Here came the smug part.

"You are one hell of a bad actor when it comes to playing innocent." I scowled as he smiled and shrugged, holding Yugi tighter. "But you guys really are lucky, the ones that you love know and love you back. They accept your affection."

"I'm more than certain that he loves you too." Now he was reassuring. How many different moods was he going to go through within five minutes? Him, the other yamis and their hikaris were turning into some pretty damn moody cats because of their new DNA. "Why haven't you told him yet?"

"I just get the feeling that he isn't ready to know yet. I'm not sure why, but I just do. What do you think?"

"Even with my powers, I can't tell something like that. I can only tell what lies in their hearts, not what it can or cannot handle. I think that you should follow your instincts."

"With how genetically enhanced they are, what could go wrong?" I know, it's amazing, I made a joke.

"Yeah." He smiled again. "I do think that this will work out."

We finally arrived at mansion late the next day. From what we could hear and smell, not many people were there. It was safe to enter.

Getting across the lawn was fine, but, as soon as we got through the front door, I was tackled by Mokuba. He looked exhausted and I could tell that he had been crying.

"Seto! Where were you?" he asked, his voice breaking with the fresh tears. "I was so worried! Why didn't you contact me?"

"There, there Mokuba," I said, rubbing his back, trying to get him to calm down. "I'm okay, so please get off of me. I am absolutely filthy right now and you're hugging too hard. Anyways, we have guests that probably really want a shower right about now."

"Okay," he said, letting go of me, rubbing his eye. A look of shock adorning his face as he got a good look at me. "What happened to you?"

I scratched the back of my head in a very Jou like fashion. I couldn't blame him for being surprised. After all, we looked like a total mess.

We were covered in dirt, grime and blood. Everyone's hair was caked in mud and there were leaves, twigs and other shit stuck in it. We even still had blood on our faces from when we had been hunting.

"You see," I began, hoping that Mokuba didn't explode after hearing this. "We had to travel from the safe house on foot. We were staying there because some psychopathic scientist decided to kidnap us."

"What?" His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

"Just calm down," I said, grabbing his shoulders. "We will explain everything as soon as we get cleaned up. Okay?"

He nodded and we all went to take showers.

Later, after calling Yugi's grandfather and telling him what happened to us we sat down in my living room to explain everything to Mokuba.

"You see, that jerk put animal DNA in us," Jou said, imputing his small amount of the story. I could tell that he was fighting the urge to call that "jerk" "that bastard". I told him, along with everyone else, that they were to watch their language around my little brother or I would conduct my own kind of experiments on them.

"That's horrible!" my brother exclaimed. "Are you sure that it's safe to be back already? What if he comes after you again?"

"Breathe Mokuba," I sighed, trying yet again to calm my frantic sibling. "We'd be able to hear and smell him trying to sneak up on us from a mile away."

After about half an hour and a tub of ice cream later he was calm and I could finally ask him about what had happened in my absence.

"What's going on with the company? What did you tell the others concerning my absence?" I knew that I would have to go to work again soon, but I would need to make sure that mine and Mokuba's stories matched.

"I handled everything. The only things that I left were the big documents that would absolutely have to have your signature and no one else's. The stocks are still going well and the new Kaiba land is open without any glitches." He counted everything off on his fingers as he spoke, the spoon sticking out of his mouth and a look of deep concentration adorning his face. "I told the servants here not to tell anyone that you haven't been home and everyone else thinks that you've been really sick. I even got our doctor to 'confirm' it."

"Good job Mokuba," I said with a smile, patting him on the head. "I'm really proud of you."

After that, we all sat and came up with what we should do now that we were back. We decided that we were always going to be in groups and during lunch we would have someone sitting in the sakura tree to keep watch (we would all take turns.). At last, everyone went home. Well, everyone except Jou. He and I were having a "conversation" about how stupid it would be for him to go to his house.

"My pa's probably worried sick!" he exclaimed.

"You mean using your disappearance as an excuse to get drunk off his ass, right? Or do you mean that he's fuming because the cable or something was cut off because you weren't there to pay them since he's too drunk and lazy to get off his fat ass to do it himself?" I didn't mean to go that far or to sound so cold, but he really was being so stupid! Didn't he realize the danger that he was in?

"How so you know about that?" he asked, a look of complete and utter shock on his face. "Yugi and the others wouldn't even know if it wasn't for that one time that Honda took them to my house because I was absent so long!"

I inwardly bit my bottom lip (couldn't let him see that I was nervous) and mentally screamed at myself for being stupid enough to give away that I knew so much about his house life and family situation. Here I was hoping that if the situation was ever brought up it would be a lot further down the road when I could have used the excuse that I wanted to know as much as I could about him because I cared so much, obviously after he was ready to know that I loved him. Since that wasn't an option, I had to tell the truth and boy was he not going to like it.

"Sit down and at least try to stay calm when I tell you," I sighed, resigning myself to my fate. I knew that this definitely wasn't going to get me any closer to the day that he knew my feelings but it had to be done. "I did some research on you when I was so hell-bent on getting revenge on Yugi and, preferably, killing him. At the time I thought that I could use you to get to him if I ever needed to." (A/N: this is based off of the manga. I realize that Dartz wasn't in it but I didn't even realize that I put him in this until I had already posted it. Everything else will be from the manga or whatever random thing pops into my head.)

I didn't even see him get up or start throwing his fist at me. All I knew was that one minute I was standing, hoping that I didn't just ruin my chance with him and the next I'm on the floor and the left side of my face hurt like hell.

"Definitely can't say that I didn't deserve that," I mumbled, rubbing my cheek tenderly.

"No shit Sherlock!" Do I even need to say that he seemed a tad bit dissatisfied with me? To say that he looked pissed would be an understatement.


	8. Chapter 8

Bakura: So we're clear on everything right? If knocking her out and tying her up doesn't work, then we'll have Kaiba use the Kaiba death glare.

Ryou: What if that doesn't work?

Yami: Then you, Yugi and Mokuba give her your most adorable puppy dog eyes. there's no way that anyone could resist that.

Sadistc-neko: (comes up behind the cirle of Yu-Gi-Oh characters) Wa cha doin?

Marik: (looks behind him straight at Sadistic-neko) We're plotting way to get you to update the damn story.

Sadistic-neko: But I have. It's right here. (waves some papers in the air above her head.)

Everyone: what took you so long?!

Sadistic-neko: I couldn't help it! My muse ran away! I finally caught to her somewhere in Europe, but then I had to go to my mom's for Thanksgiving. I was in three different states and seven different houses, how the hell was I supposed to work on this?

Bakura: You could of just not gone.

Sadistic-neko: I wasn't going to miss my older brother's twentieth birthday of deny my mother being able to have all three of her children together for a holiday since who knows when that'll happen again. Not to mention that I got to see my grandparents for the first tome since I visited my grandma when she was in the hospital due to heart problems. And there's the fact that I

Everyone: Just get to the story already?

Sadistic-neko: Fine, you don't have to be total assholes about it. (looks towards audience) I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, though I really wish I did.

**Jou POV**

That asshole! How dare he look up my personal info for such a stupid reason as that? Then he had the nerve to say something stupid like "Definitely can't say that I didn't deserve that"! Not to mention that the reason that we were even having this conversation was because he thought that my father was a good excuse to get me to stay at his place!

The thing that really pissed me off though was that I had this idiotic hope that he really looked at all that stuff about me because he cared or something! How stupid could I get? I couldn't even understand myself anymore!

I glared at him for a few minutes, watching his every move, waiting for him to get up and retaliate, but all he did was sit there. It was like he was waiting for me to let off all of the steam that I needed to before he said or did anything else.

Once I had given myself time to cool, I took a couple of deep breaths, trying to keep the fact that he was kind of nice now and helping all of my friends and me at the front of my mind. No matter how mad I was, I did have to remember that Yami and Yugi did change him for the better when they defeated him at death-T. Sighing, I held my hand out to him. He gave it a wary look before taking it.

"That all?" he asked, clearly knowing my temper.

"It's in the past and since you already know, I guess that there isn't really anything that I can do about it, huh?" He nodded, looking strangely relived that I understood and that he was still alive. "I just really don't appreciate you using my pops like that. As hard as it may seem to believe, he actually used to be a pretty damn good father."

"I know, I saw the article from a few years ago about when you guys won some father son contests and all of your history concerning bills and what not shows that everything was paid properly by him and that you didn't even get a job until your mother left." He hesitated for a moment looking very uncomfortable. "Sorry about saying that in the first place. It's just that, at the moment, I don't trust that you would be safe there. Even if you don't realize it, if anything happened to you it would affect the entire pack."

I just stood there with my jaw dangling away. It was so unbelievable! _The_ Seto Kaiba had just apologized to me! He never apologized about anything other than allowing Mokuba to be kidnapped! Then something else dawned on me.

"The pack?" I had every right to be confused, right? I kind of understood what it meant, but a little clarification would have been pretty nice.

"The hikaris and the yamis. The hikaris would be sad and start mopping and then we would have yamis that are mad that their hikaris are sad and everything would go to hell. Not to mention that being one of the betas in the pack makes you pretty important in both hunting and decision making."

"Betas?" Let me know if this is making sense to you, because I was completely confused. I admit that some part of me, probably the animal DNA, understood perfectly, but it was more on an instinctual level than anything. He sighed.

"Look, Yami and Yugi are obviously the leaders in our pack, right?" I nodded. That much I could comprehend. "Well, in wolf terms, that would make Yami the alpha male and Yugi the alpha female. Are you still following me?" I nodded again. "You can kind of say that, considering mine and Yami's past, that I am my ancient cousin's right hand man/wolf, and as Yugi's closest and most trusted friend, you are the same to him. That makes you and me the betas. Okay?"

"So you're saying that since Yami and Yugi are the big bosses in our messed up little family and that since you and I are the people that they trust the most we're kind of like the second in charge or something." I hoped that I was right. It would have sucked if I just said such a long run on sentence just to sound stupid and be laughed at by one of the wealthiest and smartest men in the world.

"Pretty much." I really wanted to do a victory dance. After all, I just figured out the complexities of pack structure in under three minutes. That's pretty damn impressive in my book! Then he just had to go and ruin the moment. "Now do you understand why I think it would be for the best that you stay here and not go back to your house?'

I glared at him and gritted my teeth. Even after that long explanation and pissing me off like that he was still so set on having me stay with him. Since when the hell did he really care?

"I can't just leave him alone," I said through my clenched teeth. He could tell that I was still taking about my father. "I've been trying to help him for years, if I continue to stay away, he won't ever get better."

"Then how about you and I go get your stuff and I get a friend of mine that runs a clinic to see if there is any saving his liver and I have him put into a rehabilitation hospital? That way all of our problems are solved. You aren't putting yourself in danger and he gets the help that he needs."

I almost fell over. Would he really do all that? If so than I couldn't see any problems with his plan at all. It would shut him and my friends, that traitorously took his side before leaving, up and my pops could finally be able to get help getting over his addiction to alcohol.

"Deal," I sighed. I thought that I saw his eyes light up, but then again, I could have just been imagining it. After all, since when does _Kaiba_ show his emotions so openly?

"You wait here and I will go call up my friend. Once I'm done we will go to your house and get anything that you need. Is that okay with you?" I nodded and he left to do just what he said he would.

**Seto POV**

** "**Yes!" I thought as I made my way to my study. "Jou is going to be staying here and I didn't lose my head trying to convince him!"

I know that something to the nature of what I was silently cheering about may seem insignificant to you, but trust me when I tell you that it was something that I was pretty damn happy about. I knew before the argument even started that Jou had a hard head and was stubborn as a mule, not to mention that I really thought that he was going to attempt to murder me when I told him about why I knew as much as I did about him.

Almost completely lost in ecstasy from how happy I was, I nearly missed the shadow that was slinking around by the corner. I would have lunged at it had I not of recognized the sent.

"I know that you're there Mokuba, come out." I heard a sigh as he crept out of the shadows that he tried to hide himself in. "You should be in bed," I said sternly. After all, I had sent him to bed over two hours earlier.

"I know," he said wearily. "I was just worried."

"Do you believe what I said about people sneaking up on us now?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood. I understood what he meant about being worried. I had been in his shoes many a time. There were many nights that I just couldn't sleep because rather he had just been kidnapped again or I had just gotten him home and was terrified that he was going to be kidnapped again while I slept. All of this definitely happened pretty often considering that he couldn't go a whole month without being kidnapped.

"Yeah, I'm going to miss sneaking up on you when you work too late," he feigned disappointment. Then, after about three seconds, his eyes lit up. "Have you…?"

"No I haven't," I said, knowing what he was about to ask. His face fell. He really was insistent on getting Jou and me together. "I would, but he isn't ready to hear that yet."

I sighed in regret. I hated waiting so long, but I knew that it would be worth it in the end. I looked at Mokuba and had to fight the urge to burst out laughing when I saw that his jaw was on the floor and his eye were even wider than Yugi's, which is saying a lot! It took him a few moments to recover and stop looking like a fish.

"You mean that you finally realized that you love him?" he just about screamed, luckily though we were just far enough away for Jou not to hear us.

"You tend to kind of come to a few realizations when you're kidnapped and the first thing that you see is the one you love cuffed to a wall passed out." He looked at me in amazement. "Is it really that hard to believe that I finally acknowledge my feelings for him?"

"Yes." There wasn't even an ounce of hesitation in his answer! I couldn't help but think about how sad it was that my own little brother didn't even think that I was capable of embracing an emotion such as love!

"I may not be too good with emotions but that doesn't mean that I am completely dense."

"Who made you actually sit down and think about it and how long did you brood on it?" I was beginning to regret that the Kaiba glare didn't work on him. Not to mention the fact that I was slightly cursing the fact that he knew me so well.

"Yami and no more than a minute." He began to mimic my smirk and I raised an eyebrow, just daring him to continue. He shrunk back, knowing that I would happily take away his access to our mega game and movie room without a second thought.

"Have I told you how happy I am that you're home again yet?" he asked, trying to make his eyes look big and innocent. I was the only person that it wouldn't work on.

"Stop sucking up Mokuba and go to bed." He sighed and began walking away, mumbling more with every step.

"Should have used the puppy dog eyes. That always works."

He was right on that one. I may have been the person that had gotten the closest actually killing someone with a look, but that kid could get someone to kill someone else with his puppy eyes. It was his favorite evil power that he abused regularly. I couldn't tell if I should be proud or afraid anymore. After all, I was usually the one that they were aimed at.

Sighing, I continued walking to my study. I had a feeling that I had one _very_ long night ahead of me.

**Jou POV**

I had been sitting in the ridiculously big living for a good twenty minutes before the bastard finally showed himself again.

"What took you so long?" I asked, feeling a bit frustrated. "Did you get lost or something?"

"No. Mokuba was still awake so I had to be the responsible older brother and chew him out for it."

"Oh." I understood completely. There had been plenty of times where I had to do the exact same thing with Shizuka. Being a good older brother always comes before anything else.

"You ready to go?" He was already heading out one of many doors that I had no idea where it led to. Instead of giving him an answer, I just ran to catch up to him.

It turned out that the door led to a massive garage that housed at least five expensive cars. You know the ones that you would normally have to word like fifteen hours a day for your entire life to even think about touching. He was heading for a black one that I couldn't quite place the make of.

"Get in, or would you prefer to stand there and gape at it all night?"

"You're a total bastard, you know that right?"

"So you keep telling me." Knowing that the sooner that I got in the car, the sooner I could get this over with, I hopped in, grumbling the entire way.

It wasn't a particularly long ride to get to my house, but it felt like it took an eternity and a half. I could of just keeled over and died from embarrassment as I watched Kaiba glare at every punk that passed us. To say that I lived in a bad area of town wouldn't even come close to describing my neighborhood. It made the ghettos look like a playground.

We arrived at my house all too soon. It definitely wasn't a pretty sight. The grass, or little bit there was, was ridiculously over grown. The paint was almost nonexistent and it was just screaming a welcome to rats. I couldn't tell if pops was in there or not.

"Are you okay?" Kaiba asked me, grabbing one of my hands.

"Yeah, why?"

"You're clenching your fist so tightly that your claws are slicing up your hands."

I looked down at my hands and, to my surprise, found that he was right. There was blood rolling down my hand and I could see four little cuts on my palms. I sighed and relaxed my hands, wincing slightly as the pain finally registered in my brain.

"Lets just get this over with." Resigned to my fate, I opened the door and began heading towards the hell hole that I called my house.

The air felt heavy, as If I had a couple of tons were lying on my shoulders. I could feel my hands shaking as I reached for the doorknob. Slowly, I turned it and opened the door. As soon as it was opened, I was hit with a wave of scents, ranging from mold to alcohol. It was completely overwhelming.

The last thing that I registered was falling into Kaiba's arms.

**Seto POV**

As I drove through Jou's neighborhood, I couldn't help but feel all the more determined to keep Jou with me and as far away from that atrocious place as could be. A couple of times I noticed a few punks eyeing my car with obvious intentions. One glare sent them packing.

By the time we got to his house, I could feel the tension rolling of him in waves. Not sure of what to do, I sat and thought for a moment, only to pulled out of my thoughts by the smell of Jou's blood. Shocked, I turned my gaze to him. There were small rivers of blood rolling down his hands and he seemed completely oblivious to it.

"Are you okay?" I asked, hoping to snap him out of his daze. It worked.

"Yeah, why?"

"You're clenching your fists so tightly that your claws are slicing up your hands." He looked down at his hands and seemed really surprised to find that he did have injuries. After a moment, he sighed and unclenched his hands, wincing ever so slightly.

"Lets just get this over with," he said, reaching for the car door.

We were both silent as we approached his house. I could tell from the slumped way that he walked that he felt as if a terrible weight was resting on his shoulders. When he reached the door and tried to grab the knob, I could see his hand shaking. I was about to go up to him and try to offer some form of comfort ( don't ask me what because I had no clue.) when he opened the door.

Even from several feet away to smell was nauseating. It was so bad that it left me severely disoriented for several seconds. When I could see and think straight again, I saw Jou swaying slightly. I ran up to him just in time for him to fall into my arms as he collapsed.

"Jou," I called out to him, more worried than I had been in a long time. "Jou, are you okay?"

"Boy, id tha you?" a big booming voice asked from inside the house. The words were slurred and almost completely incomprehensible. I looked up to find a man that could be no other than Jou's father.

He was a big man that showed signs of having been in superb shape at one point in time, though he now had a beer belly. Like Jou, he had blonde hair and was about the same height. Though I could see the resemblances clearly, it was still hard to believe that Jou, a person that would never compromise his beliefs and was such a noble, hardworking person, was related to that drunk.

"Who'a you?" The combination of the house's horrible smell and the putrid scent emanating from his mouth was almost enough to make me join Jou in dreamland. Thankfully, the man's drunken stupor finally got the best of him and he passed out. After dragging Jou back to my limo, I pulled out my phone and called up the head of my bodyguards.

"Hello?" came the replay that sounded more like thunder forming into words.

"Hello Rai, it's Kaiba."

"Hello Kaiba-sama. It's good to hear that you're back. Do you mind telling me what happened?"

"I was just kidnapped by an evil scientist, nothing major."

"Pardon me, but that sounds more like something that would happen to Mokuba. I certainly hope that you aren't picking up his habit of being kidnapped."

"Ha ha, you're so funny. Now if we could get to why I called you I would most definitely appreciate it."

"Yes sir," he said, dropping all humor and smartass comments. He was lucky that I had known him as long as I had or he would have lost his job a long time ago.

"I need you to go to the residence of Jounochi Katusya and get all of his belongings and bring to the mansion. Make sure that all of them are cleaned thoroughly before we get them."

"Yes sir, anything else?"

"Yes, I also want you to pick up his father and drop him off at Dr. Mikawa's clinic."


	9. Chapter 9

Bakura: Damn it! Where the hell is she?!

Seto: We honestly don't know. Last any of us saw, she was going to the movies with her dad. That was a week ago.

Bakura: I thought that the runt and the mutt were watching her!

Seto: (Growls loudly) Hey you stupid, demonic cat, I'm the only one that can call Jou that! Try it again and I'll personally cut your balls off. You got it!

Bakura: I would like to see you try! Go ahead! See what happens to you!

Sadistic-neko: What's going on here?

Seto and Bakura: Where the hell have you been?!

Sadistic-neko: Home and school. I've had a ton of after school rehearsal for band and the stupid FCAT writes was this week. (the other two glare) Look I can't help that it's been so long! My retarded computer decided to hate me again and every time I tried to do something on it, would begin eating itself! I just got Microsoft Word on my laptop last weekend and I didn't have enough material to even think about updating! I just freaking wrote six and a half pages to add! I even made sure to add some Seto-Jou bonding time to it! Not to mention some really cute moments between the two! Well at least I hope that everyone thinks that it's cute.

Seto: Fine, whatever.

Bakura: Just shut up and get the disclaimer over with so we can get to the damn story!

Sadistic-neko: give me a sec, jeez. (turns to readers) I do not own Yugioh otherwise these assholes would be showing me a whole hell of a lot more respect. Hope you enjoy the new chapter!

**Jou POV**

I awoke in a dark room. I didn't recognize the room at all. As I slowly began to drift back into full consciousness, I became vaguely aware of the bed leaning against another's weight. Their breath ghosted across the bare skin on my arm.

I turned to see who it was, and for the second time since the yamis came back, I found Seto Kaiba's face just inches from mine. Again, it looked like he was asleep. He was sitting in a chair next to the bed, his head lying on his crossed arms.

Not completely sure what to do, I shook his shoulder. He stirred slightly, letting out a small groan. I was shocked when he grabbed my hand, put it up to his face and snuggled against it. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I guessed that he didn't really know what he was doing. After all, he was asleep and, as I discovered earlier, he wasn't a morning person.

"Kaiba!" I quietly exclaimed, hoping that it would work. He jumped, looking this way and that with bleary eyes. Once he seemed to figure out where he was, he looked up at me.

"You're awake?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. He let go of my hand and didn't even seem to notice that he was holding it in the first place.

"Yeah," I replied, stating the obvious, understanding that he was slow at the moment. "What happened? The last thing that I remember is opening the door, then everything went black."

"You passed out after you opened the door. The smell was too much for you."

"What about after that?"

"Your dad showed up in a drunken stupor, passed out and I brought you back here." He sat up stretching arms over his head. "As we speak your dad is being transferred to my friend's clinic and your stuff is being collected and brought over here. I'm also having all of your stuff cleaned so it doesn't reek."

"Thank you." Those two words didn't do the amount of gratitude I was feeling justice. I knew very well that he could have just left me with my dad, or forced me to stay and left my dad to rot, but he didn't.

"Anytime," he said warmly, a glorious smile lighting up his face. Then he stood up and began walking to the door. "I'm going to grab something to eat. Just stay here until I get back."

Though it felt kind of lonely in his huge room while he was gone, I was glad that I could get that opportunity to think. After all, I hadn't really had any time to myself since we had all been kidnapped. The main thing on my mind at that moment was, of course, Kaiba.

To tell the truth, my opinion of him was really beginning to change. For the past few years that I had known him, he had always seemed like a heartless bastard. There was even one point where his own little brother meant nothing to him. (Thank God that changed!) It was amazing how big a difference spending so much time with him twenty-four seven could do.

I realized that he really wasn't cold or heartless. He felt emotions just as well as you or I do, he just kept them under wraps. The most surprising thing though was that, under the ever constant evil, I'm-going-to-burn-you-alive-and-enjoy-every-minute-of-it scowl, he had a really nice, and bright, smile. I couldn't help but wonder why he didn't show it others.

I giggled quietly as I thought about when we were traveling back to the mansion. The fact that he was slow to wake up caused quite a few awkward moments. I wished I had a camera when he got up this one morning and went to wash his face in a near by stream. His plan had been to _walk_ the few feet. That didn't happen. Instead he ended tripping over Bakura and fell right into the water. Boy that woke him up fast!

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the door open. It took all of my will power not to laugh as I saw the exact person I was thinking about standing in the doorway. I nearly jumped him when I both smelt and saw the food that he was carrying.

His chefs were definitely the best.

**Seto POV**

It was the morning after we finally got home. It felt wonderful to wake up in my own bed. After relishing in the feel of the warm blankets for a moment, I dragged myself out of bed.

When I finally trudged all of the way down stairs, I was surprised to find that I was not the only one awake. That was unusual, I was normally the first to get up.

I entered the kitchen and found Jou standing in front of the stove, wearing an apron and holding a spatula. Whatever he was cooking smelt great.

Assuming that I was seeing things because I was still half asleep, I walked up to him and put my head on his shoulder. I also took a glance at the food, pancakes. Mokuba would be really happy.

"I like this dream," I thought, relishing in the sent that emanated from him.

"Still not awake enough to hold your own head up?" he asked. It was at that time that it finally dawned on me that I was not dreaming and that Jou really was standing in my kitchen making breakfast.

"What's he…? Oh, yeah, I convinced him to live with Mokuba and me. That's right." With that, my silent pondering came to a close.

"I'm surprised to see you up so early," was the first thing I had spoken aloud that day. I lifted my head off of his shoulder and straightened up as he turned to face me.

"I'm not that bad," he said, acting like I hurt his feelings. It looked like he was in a good mood that morning.

"Yeah right," I playfully retorted. "I thought that I was going to have to drag you out of bed and all of the way to school. Why are you so early anyways?"

"I was hungry."

"Why does that not surprise me?" At that point I noticed that the food was done so I turned to grab the plates. After he put food on them and I placed them on the table I turned back to him in time to see him take off his apron. We both jumped slightly as Mokuba tripped his way into the kitchen.

"Are you okay squirt?" Jou asked, obviously worried for my little brother.

"Wha? Was the oh so intelligent reply that he received. Jou blinked twice and astonishment and fell to the floor in fits of laughter.

"Let me guess," he said between breaths. "Not being morning people is a family trait."

I honestly could see what he found so humorous. How could he laugh at my and Mokuba's curse? Didn't he realize how many awkward situations it had landed us in?

I could get mad at him, though. I didn't see how that could even be possible with how cute he looked bent over, bracing his hands against his knees for support, a luminous smile spread wide on his beautifully flushed face. He was just too much of an adorable puppy to even think of being mad.

"I'm sorry," he said, whipping a tear from the corner of his eye with his index finger. "It's just kind of funny that the big, bad Seto Kaiba, owner of the worlds largest gaming company is someone that trips over himself when he wakes up. With Mokuba, it was just too adorable."

"Whatever," I said looking over at Mokuba, searching for any signs that he was about to let his head, which he had resting on one of his hands, fall face first in to his plate of breakfast pastry. I had to admit though, other than when he unleashed his "Puppy dog eyes of doom" this time in the mornings was when he was the most "adorable". I'd be damned if I ever said it out loud to either of them, but still.

"Well I better clean myself up before we head off to school. Do you mind if I borrow one of your uniforms?" He was already heading out the door on his way to my room.

"Go ahead," I said without thinking, and then the irresistible impulse kicked in. The one that demanded that I pick on my puppy. "Good luck finding one that'll fit you. They'll all probably be too big for the little pup."

"Oh shut up you jerk!" Oh I loved his explosive reactions. "I am not a dog!"

"The wolf DNA says otherwise." (Being a smart ass is so much fun.)

"Then I can say the about you!" He sounded so triumphant that I couldn't help put tease him more.

"At least I'm the alpha wolf out of the two of us!"

"What makes you think that?"

"Because I'm the pack's alpha male's beta. The second in charge!"

"How does that work? What about me then?" These were genuinely curious questions, yelled only because he hadn't stopped once on his way to my room during the entire conversation. (Arguing with someone while you're walking away from them to their own room, now that takes skill.)

"If anything were to happened to Yami, I, being his beta, would be left in charge. Even though Yugi may be the alpha 'female', but the leadership of the pack goes to the strongest male. Since you're Yugi's beta you would basically be the support and attempt to keep order with the other 'females', Ryou and Malik, while the 'males', Bakura, Marik and me, would be trying to fight of whatever the hell is threatening us and hurt our alpha."

"I would comment on the 'you and the_ other_ females' thing, but yelling to you is starting to make my throat raw!" I chuckled lightly hearing this. Anyone else wouldn't have even bothered yelling for as long as he had. "We are definitely continuing this conversation later!"

"Agreed!" Now that was a lot of fun.

"What the heck?" I heard exclaimed just to my side. I turned to find my brother staring at me with such an expression of awe that you would have though that I was the most fascinating thing in the world.

"Is something wrong?" I asked,, tilting my head to the right slightly in confusion.

"More like amazing really." I figured that it must be true considering that whatever it was shocked him out of his early morning daze which was worse than even mine. "You're smiling."

"What?" I was shocked. I found that, as my expression shifted, he was right. I really was smiling and I didn't even notice.

"I don't even remember the last time that you were this happy. When you finally confess to him, I'm going to have to make sure that I thank him for being such a miracle worker." I didn't know that I could get any happier than I already until I saw a happy, innocent smile grace his lips. One that was now a rare sight because of how much he had to grow up since we left the orphanage. It was nice to see him both looking and acting his real age.

"You're right," I agreed wholeheartedly, allowing yet another carefree smile to grace my lips.

**Jou POV**

I stood outside Kaiba's bedroom door, tapping my foot impatiently. I had been waiting for him _forever_!

"Honestly!" I thought irritably. "How long does it take to put one your damn uniform?"

Speaking of uniform. I looked down at myself, growling quietly. That bastard just had to be right about the stupid uniform. To say that it was big on me would be the understatement of the century!_ The damn thing was freaking huge_!

Not only did I have to roll the sleeves and pants legs up, but I found that his pants were a little tight at my ass and hips and loose at my waist! Not to mention that the freaking shirt was so huge that it almost went down to my knees!

If any of you can't do the math, I'll make it simple for you. It meant that not only was he taller than me and had broader shoulders, but I had wider hips and a skinnier. Having wider hips and a skinnier waist meant that I looked like a girl. I had know before I even put it on that he was taller than me, but just how much and everything else was just pain ridiculous!

"Don't worry," Mokuba said from sitting place on the floor next to me. "He shouldn't be much longer. You have to remember that, unlike you and the others, he can't just go outside and walk to school without worrying about getting mobbed. He has to take a ton of extra precautions."

"Yeah," I said, growing more grumpy by the second. "Kami forbid he be found by anyone outside without having combed his hair with a ruler and 360 degree mirror."

"You should know by now that I don't even have to bother with any extra work on my hair for it to be straight. After all, you saw me waking up in the woods with it perfectly straight." I jumped as I heard Kaiba's voice literally right behind me. I scowled at him, trying to at least make it look like I hadn't just jumped in surprise like some pansy. That was totally blown out of the water when I actually looked at him, standing there gaping like a fish.

"What the hell?" I asked. It was nearly impossible to even tell that the person I was looking was really _Kaiba_. I mean, the last that I checked, his hair wasn't red, his eyes weren't green and he wouldn't be caught dead with a well worn American ball cap on!

"I'll take that as a sign that I am now suitably disguised to go out in public. You ready to go Mokuba?" Yeah that was Kaiba, considering that he was smirking in the only way that only Kaiba could. It was the only that told me it really was him.

"Yep!" he replied, pulling his bandana off his neck and gathered his hair to tie up under it.

"Someone mind explaining to my why you looked like that?" That damn smirk turned amused as he turned to face me.

"How else do you think I avoid the paparazzi on my to and from school? The only reason that I let them get footage of my every now and then is because I need to so the public doesn't think that I don't go to school. That would cause more trouble than I care to deal with."

He was trying to sound aloof, but I could tell that he was tense. Something about the whole 'more trouble than I care to deal with' thing seemed as more of something that would break him.

"Good point," I said distractedly, making sure to file away this revelation for later. With that, we left.

I had never been more amazed in my life than the moment that I looked over at Kaiba after we enter the busier part of town. I knew that he was a good actor, considering that no one can be as emotionless as he pretended to be, (I was learning how to read him pretty well.) but I had no idea that he was freaking brilliant.

As soon as we got to the shopping district, he began walking with a slouch, put some ear buds in his ears and started chewing on some gum, blowing bubbles occasionally. He actually looked like a regular teenager. By the time that we dropped off Mokuba at his school, I was about to explode with the questions bouncing in my head.

"Why do you bother walking to school?" I asked so suddenly that I even surprised myself. "I mean, you have like ten or more cars. Couldn't you just disguise yourself and take on of them? The journalists couldn't possibly have all of you cars' license plate's numbers."

He was quiet for so long that I thought that he didn't hear me. He was listening to whatever was on that phone he had in his hand.

"You're right, I don't have to, but it's nice to seem normal sometimes. All of the fame and money does begin to weigh a lot after a while." I had never seen him look so contemplative like that, so vulnerable. There was no doubt in my mind that he spoke the truth. Had anyone else have told me that he felt that way just a week or two earlier, I would have laughed at them and told them that they were crazy. He never seemed so human to me.

"Has it always been that way?" I asked, truly wondering about his past, what made him the way he was. He had never given even this tiny amount of info away to us. I wanted to milk this for all that it was worth and try to solve the mystery of Seto Kaiba, and maybe even my own emotions towards him.

"Depends," he said softly, trying to keep any else from hearing and, I think, to try and ease his own pain. "Do you mean before or after that bastard Gozaboro took us in?"

"Took you in?" I asked, more confused than I had been all day. "He wasn't your father?"

"No." I watched him grit his teeth, attempting to control horrible rage. "He adopted us after I beat him in a bet concerning a game of chess. Mokuba and I were orphaned when we were really little. I would be surprised if he even remember what they looked like. When Gozaboro adopted us, I was forced into tutoring from hell and we weren't allowed to see each other. I still have no idea how we got through it."

I was horrified. What kind of son of a bitch could do that to two kids? Especially two kids that were, quite literally, all that the other had left. It was too cruel. It did explain a lot though. Like why he hid his emotions for instance. No wonder when Yami got rid of his hatred and anger he acted the way he had towards Mokuba.

"You use this walk to try and forget the past don't you?"

"You could say that." His head was down, his bangs hiding his eyes. "Our parents used to walk me to school with Mokuba before they died. I can tell that even if he doesn't remember it, he still remember what felt like, holding our father's hand and smiling at mother as we strolled down the sidewalk. The shadow of the feelings that he's managed to keep make him smile, even if, for several years, it was my hand that he held instead of father's and it was one of the maids that walked with us that he smiled at instead of mother."

"I think that I can kind of understand what you're trying to do, continuing to do this even though it's been so many years." I couldn't help but smile as he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "I kind of have something like that to with Shizuka."

"Really?" he asked, pretending not to care. I could tell that even though he would never admit it, it felt good to him to get all of this pain off of his chest, and to just talk about something that we could mutually understand and care about. Our younger siblings.

"Yeah. When we were little, right before our parents split up, I her took for a day out to the beach. That was the last good memory that we have together before mom took her away. Now, whenever she comes to visit, I take her back to that beach and we play in the sand and water, just like we did that day. It's the only way that we have to forget that we're going to have to say goodbye to each other for who knows how long."

"I couldn't imagine what it would be like being separated from Mokuba like that. There's no in hell that I would want to though." He sounded so sad, and there was definitely sympathy laced in his words.

"It's not that bad anymore." I smiled, enjoying the rare show of emotion he was displaying. "Ever since battle city I have been able to see her a lot more often. Before that, I hadn't seen her in six years. At least I don't have to worry about her getting kidnapped once a week."

"Don't remind me," he groaned. "It's been almost a month since the last time. I would appreciate it if you didn't jinx it."

I laughed at this, though I couldn't blame him. I would go crazy if that happened to Shizuka even once let alone all of the time. That's when I noticed how long the wig he was wearing really was.

"Doesn't that thing make your neck itch? I mean, your hair is normally, like, three inches shorter." He blinked at my unexpected question before he practically burst out laughing.

"No. I wear this almost everyday. It doesn't bother me at all."

"By the way, what was with the whole 'it would cause more trouble than I care to deal with' thing? It seemed to really bother you." That sobered him up. I watched silently as he clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white.

"If my school attendance is questioned, it would mean that Mokuba might be taken away."

"What?" I asked shocked. "Why would anyone do that?"

"I'm not old enough to have custody of him. Since Gozaboro is dead and we're orphans, I'm the only one that can take care of him. The court doesn't about me not having a guardian since I own a major company, but he's another story. I made a deal with them and as long as I attend school they'll let me take care of him. Once I graduate, I'll be granted full custody." He looked up bitterly, then spoke softly in the annoyingly familiar emotionless voice again. "We're here."

I looked up, surprised at how short the walk seemed. I was about to go through the gate when I heard what sounded like a herd of elephants stampeding right towards me. I turned to face whatever it was only to find myself squished between Honda and Otougi.

"Where the hell have you been? Are Yugi and the others okay? Who the hell is this guy? What's going on?" I could barely make out the rush of questions. They were so blurred together that it was impossible to tell which one was asking what.

"Need… Air!" I choked out as their grip became tighter.

"Oh, sorry," they said and let go at the same time. I took a moment to catch my breath, glaring at Kaiba as he watched me with an amused smirk. He hid it pretty damn well, but I could still see it.

"The others are perfectly fine. They should be in class today. As far as where I was and what's going on, I think that it would be best to wait until the others are here to tell you that." I grinned, really looking forward to seeing their reactions to the answer to their last question. "You wouldn't believe me unless he shows you. Would you mind?"

"Do I really have a choice?" Wow, not only was he good at just plain acting, he could change his voice and mimic any accent that he wanted. At that moment he was using a southern American accent. It took everything I me not to laugh as we followed him into the school and, eventually, the bathroom.

"Whatever you do, don't scream," he said turning around as they looked at him curiously. "I don't know about Jou, but I would prefer not begin the day with a huge migraine."

I was shocked that he actually used my name. That never happened except when he was referring to me when he was talking to the teachers!

That's when he turned around to face us again, pulling his wig off as he did so. In his other had he held the case that he put his colored contacts in. Honda and Otougi's reaction was priceless! Their jaws literally hit the floor!

"Kaiba!" screamed Otougi. He looked like he was about to faint. The sound of his voice began to bounce off the walls and it was so loud that it made my ears ring.

"What the hell are you doing walking to school with _Kaiba_?" Honda asked sounding really pissed. "You hate the bastard!"

"He's not that bad," I defended before I really even thought about it. I could tell from the look on his face that I was in for a hell of a lot of shit now.


	10. Chapter 10

Seto: Holy shit, you actually updated twice in one week. A miracle has occurred.

Sadistic-neko: Wow, that was so funny that I forgot to laugh. Jeez, I write and amazingfull chapter that has all kinds of adorable fluff between you and your sweet widdle puppy and you just have to be a total jackass.

Seto: Wait. You what? Let me see that. (Steals laptop)

Sadistic-neko: Hey! Give that back!

Seto: (Super dooper speed reads while keeping laptop from author) I like this chapter.

Sadistic-neko: Why don't you go and find Jou so you can molest him or something and give me my damn laptop bad already? After all, that things the only reason that I'm able to update so quickly now.

Seto: (pervy grin) Good idea. Here (hands laptop back) update again soon. (looks around) Now where oh where has my little puppy dog gone?

Sadistic-neko: (watches as Seto begins looking for Jou) Wow, a guy ripping off a nursery rhyme while looking for someone so he can molest them, and it's Seto Kaiba too. Now that's something you don't see every day. (hears Jou scream something a pervert then moans form the next room) Oh well, now that that's done (turns to readers) I don't own Yugioh though my birthday's next week and if you want to give it to me I'll love for life. Hope that you like this new chap, bye!

"Since when do you defend _him_?" Kaiba and I both put our hands over our ears, trying to fight the twin headaches pounding in our temples.

"Ow! What the hell are you two dumb asses yelling about?" an irritated voice rang through the tiny bathroom.

"Bakura, be nice." How Ryou could be so reserved and patient with the constantly pissed off ancient thief, I would never know. "Just because he is being louder then is really necessary doesn't mean that you need to be so rude."

Kaiba and I took Honda and Otougi's distraction as the perfect opportunity to run and milked it for all that it was worth. We somehow made it to the classroom before they realized that we gone. Thanking Kami that we could avoid making our throbbing heads worse, we sat down at our desks.

The teachers and few students that were in the classroom seemed amazed that we walked into class together. Especially since they didn't here us arguing all the way down the hallway.

**Seto POV**

As class wore on, I constantly found myself thinking back to the conversation that I had with Jou earlier. Almost all of the questions that he asked me were things that I wouldn't normally tell others, but it _was_ Jou. I wanted to tell him though. After all, if I wanted to ever be able to tell him about my feelings, it would probably have been best to let him know about my past.

Not to mention how liberated I felt as I told some of my deepest darkest secrets. All of my worries seemed so much lighter now that someone else knew about them. I was actually glad that I told him. Since he was an older brother too, he was able to understand what I felt.

I looked up, wondering how long I had been lost in thought, as I heard the bell ring. It was the beginning of lunch. Sighing, I grabbed the lunch that Mokuba and Jou decided to make together for the two of us and walked up to Jou.

"We're telling the other two friends of yours about what happened right?" He nodded. "I guess that we should be heading over to the sakura tree then."

As we walked on, I could feel the eyes of all of the students that we passed glue to us. It was annoying, to say the least, but understandable. It wasn't every day that Jou and I could be in the same room without trying to kill each other, let alone walking side by side.

As we approached the tree, I could see that the others weren't there yet. Getting their own lunches without a doubt.

Knowing that we were going to have to wait a while, I took a seat under the tree, leaning against its trunk. Jou was already chowing down on his half of our lunch, looking so much more like some kind of wild animal than a person. Ironic I know.

Figuring that I wasn't really all that hungry, I decided to just lay back and enjoy the good weather. Contrary to popular belief, I actually rather liked being out. I, personally, found the feeling of the sun's rays on me to be extremely relaxing. It felt weird to be inside all day and be as pale as I was. Probably the whole being the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian high priest. The only missing was the feeling of hot sand under me.

I was ripped out of my serene trance by the pounding of feet as they rushed to were Jou and I were waiting. Sighing I sighed and looked up just in time to find Jou tearing his gaze away from me to land on his friends. I hoped that his staring at me was a good thing.

"So are you going to explain what's going on already?" The yamis, hikaris, Jou and I all cringed as his obnoxiously loud voice rang out around us. I as just waiting for the first chance that I could get to punch him. There was no way in hell that I was going to be able to get through the damn board meeting that I had scheduled for later that day if the migraine I had didn't go away as soon as possible.

"Honda," Yugi began quietly. "What did we say about yelling?"

"Oh, sorry." The idiot actually had the gal to act sheepish. I wanted to punch all the more.

"To answer your question, we will tell you what happened, we just need to do something first." Yami looked around us. "Who has first watch?"

Marik raised his hand.

"I'll take it, but I'm not doing it tomorrow."

"Don't worry, I'll take the watch tomorrow. I would do it today but I don't think that anyone else is really up to going over all of this."

"You're right," we all said at once. He smiled at our reaction. With all that said and done, Marik climbed up the sakura tree, using his claws to propel him up faster than would ever be normal.

"…" At last the fool was stunned into wonderful silence. For a few seconds. "What was that?"

"The after results of a maniacal scientist kidnapping us and fusing our DNA with that of animals." Their reactions were nowhere near as explosive as I had hoped that they would be, but, then again, after all that they had been through the past few years, I guessed that it was to be expected.

"Oh, okay. That's believable," Otougi not the least bit surprised or thinking that it was weird at all.

"Now to the thing that we really wanted answered," Honda said, snapping his gaze to Jou and me, eyeing the unusually minute distance between us. "What the hell is up with you two? Since when have you guys been on such friendly terms?"

"I'm not really sure," Jou said, tilting his head to the right and closing his eyes thoughtfully. When he opened them again, he turned his gaze to me. "Would you say that it was around the time that you and I had to share that bed?"

Honda and Otougi's eyes widened as they heard this.

"I think it was more like around the time that I carried you on my back from the lab that we were trapped in. I still can't believe that you and the hikaris were able to sleep through all of the branches snapping at us and the bright lights that occurred when Yami summoned the Dark Magician and used the Magical box."

"What can I say? I'm a heavy sleeper." Jou shrugged as he said this, completely nonchalant. "The fact that I we still had that damn sleeping medicine running through us didn't help either you know."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Honda exclaimed, waving his hands wildly in front of himself. "You mean to tell me that Kaiba actually helped you and that you actually fell asleep on his back?"

"As I said earlier, he's really not as bad as we originally thought." He smiled. I wasn't sure if it was from his friends reaction or the thought of me being nice, but I hoped that it was the later.

"Why did you guys walk to school together then?" Otougi asked after he picked his jaw up off of the ground.

"Well I live with the guy now so it was just easier." There went the jaws on the floor again.

"Since when? Why?" I almost laughed, finally getting the reaction that I was waiting for.

"Since last night." He answered easily. "It's safer that way." He paused for a second. Then spoke again softly. "Not to mention that he's making sure that my pa is getting the help that he needs."

Everything went quiet for a few moments before the others began to chat idly about nothing in particular. Not really feeling up to getting myself involved, I lay back again.

A little while later, I heard the light sound of rustling from just to the left of me. As inconspicuously as I could, I took a quick sniff and found, to my expectation, that it was Jou that was slowly creeping towards me. Forcing myself not to smile at his obvious intention, I began a silent count down.

At last, just as I reached 0, he pounced. I heard him squeak in surprise as I sat up and quickly turned just in time to grab his wrist and pulled him towards me. A little wrestling and tumbling later found me sitting on a struggling puppy's back grinning from ear to ear as he yelled various curses and profanities at me. I was having the time of my life.

"Get off of me damn you!" He was trying his hardest to kick or punch me, flailing about like an octopus.

"Such language puppy. Is that any way to speak to your alpha male?"

"What happened to him calling himself Jou's 'master'?" I heard Honda whisper to someone.

"Their part wolf now, so its become 'alpha male' instead," Yami said in a bored tone. I was sad that all of the fun had to end when the bell rang, calling us back to the classroom. The wolf DNA, along with being around Jou, was really staring to make me really laid back and, dare I say it? Happy.

I smiled lightly as I sat at my desk, just knowing that my ancient cousin was watching me, smiling too.

**Jou POV**

We were all sitting at Yug's game shop, going through the latest shipment of duel monster cards. Well, all of us except Kaiba. He was at some kind of meeting with some big wigs at his company. Too bad for him, he was missing out in a lot of really amazing cards.

"So, Jou," Honda drawled on a little as he flipped through the channels on Yug's T.V. "There something that you've been meaning to tell us concerning Kaiba?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked thoroughly confused. What the hell was he talking about?

"I mean that there's obviously something going on between you two."

"What makes you think that?" He turned his gaze to me, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me that you seriously haven't noticed."

"This Jou that we're talking about," Otougi said from his position on the couch with his head in Honda's lap.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked indignantly. Some friends they were treating me like I was an utter moron!

"You are so slow." Honda shook his head in disbelief. "Kaiba's different around you and you're different around him. I want to know why that was."

"I don't know," I said honestly, finally getting what he was talking about. "He's been like that ever since I woke up after we were kidnapped. I can't say that I don't like it though. I'm learning so much about him and he really isn't nearly as bad as we thought."

"You do realize that you're talking like a boy in love right?" Yugi asked as he and Ryou giggled. The yamis and Malik gave me an amused smirk.

"Please don't even joke Yug," I groaned. "I'm already confused enough, okay? Everything's been weird concerning him lately and his being so nice to me just makes it so much more confusing!"

I put my head in my hands. I honestly had no clue what to do. The more I thought about it, the more that I felt like my head was going around in circles.

"Just out of curiosity, what exactly has Kaiba done that's been so nice and has changed your opinion of him so much?" Otougi asked.

"Other than the whole not trying to beat the shit out of me and keeping me as safe as I can be for the moment by making me live him?" He nodded his head, having lifted it from Honda's lap. "Well, he took me get my stuff last night and went so far as to carry my both to his car and inside his house to put on a bed after I passed out because the scent at my place was so god awful."

"Wait," Honda interrupted. "You mean to tell me that you actually passed out?"

"Heightened sense of smell, remember? Ask any of the others, they'll tell you it's completely reasonable that I fainted, okay?" He looked at them and decided not to pursue the subject any further when they all nodded bleakly to him and them glared at Marik and Bakura. We had yet to forgive them for the whole stink bomb incident. "As I was saying, he not only did that, but he's even going so far as to get my pa check out and is paying for all of his medical fees to try and save his liver and is having him put into some kind of rehabilitation hospital to try and help him get over being reliant on alcohol."

"Wow, who'd of thought that Kaiba could be so nice?" I almost wanted to deck Honda for saying that, but he didn't know Kaiba as well as I was getting to. He couldn't understand the horrible pain that he went through, especially since he was the baby of his family. (other than his nephew/cousin/whatever the hell he is other than a pervert baby)

"I always knew," Yami said, a knowing look on his face as he held Yugi tighter. "After all, my cousin isn't that much different now compared to when we lived in ancient Egypt. Just like back then, I'm sure that there's something in his past that has shaped him to be such a cold person, just like I am also sure that there's someone that will be able to show him that he doesn't have to be like a statue to be able to protect himself."

He gave me some strange look that I didn't even bother digging into since I wasn't in the mood to make myself dizzy by thinking too hard again. Too much trouble.

"What'd he go through back then?" I asked, wondering if it was bad as it was this go around.

"Something similar to Bakura." We all glanced at said yami, knowing full well the hell that he went through. "His village was destroyed by bandits. Then there was the whole finding out that his father that had sent both his mother and him away when he was too young to remember was actually a person that he looked up to for a long time and ended up betraying the man that he pledged his loyalty to."

"He just can't catch a break can he?" I asked, damning whatever fate was out there that was so determined to make his life a living. Hadn't he gone through enough?

"Has he told you what happened to him this time? It must have been something awful to make him even worse then he was back then." I nodded. "Would you tell me? I would like to help him if there is any way."

I thought about if for a little while. Did I have any right to tell them something about him that was so personal? After all, it must of taken so much for him to tell me earlier. Looking at Yami, I knew that I could trust him and the others would follow his lead.

"Okay, but if he finds out that you guys know, I wasn't the one who told you." They all nodded and I took a deep breath, steadying my nerves. "He and Mokuba were orphaned when they were really little. They had nothing but each other. From what he told me, he found a way to get both him and his little bro a better life than what they had at the orphanage. That was to win a bet that he made with someone rich enough that, if they took the two in, they would never have to worry about anything ever again, but he was wrong. After he won, the bastard, Gozaboro Kaiba, decided to do everything humanly possible to break to them. He even went so far as to separate them and put Kaiba through what he called 'tutoring from hell'. Now that his stepfather is gone, he's under the constant threat of having Mokuba taken away."

"He does get kidnapped a lot," Yugi commented.

"That's not what I mean." I clenched my fists so tight that I could feel the cuts that I accidentally gave myself the other night reopen. "Apparently the court system has a problem with handing over guardianship of Mokuba to him. He struck up some kind of deal with them, but he needs to walk on eggshells to keep them at bay until he graduates."

"Wow," Malik said, I could tell that he understood Kaiba's pain almost as well as I did. "I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be taken away from my sister and Rashid for good."

The silence that we fell into was only interrupted when we heard the phone ring and Gramps came in a minute later saying that the call was for me. I wasn't surprised when I heard Kaiba's voice on the other end of the line.

"I'm sending my personal bodyguard to pick you up. He should be there soon so I suggest that you get ready." I told him that I understood and he continued. "Just to warn you, I trust this man with my life and have known him for years, but I can guarantee that you are going to be teased to point of your head about to explode." There was a pause as I heard someone speaking to him from the other end of the line. "It would also appear that your stuff has arrived. I have nothing better to do so I'll help them move it your room and make sure that it was cleaned enough."

"Thanks, see you when I get there."

Just as he had said, the bodyguard was there pretty soon and I was, indeed, teased to the point of my wanting to explode. What he didn't tell me was that it would be because I would so damned embarrassed that all of the blood in my body would end up traveling to my face in a fierce blush.

By the time I got out of the car I was determined never to borrow Kaiba's clothes again if it could be helped. If it couldn't, I would make sure that I wasn't within three miles of the man.

Once I was able to compose myself, I walked into the mansion. Mokuba was waiting for me, sitting on the bottom step and looking up the stairs with a worried expression. Wondering what was going on, I approached him but stopped dead in my tracks as I heard a strange sound. I could of sworn that it was the sound of retching.

"What's going on squirt? Where's your brother?" I asked, already having a vague idea.

"Barffing his guts up upstairs." The poor kid looked worried sick. (No pun intended. There's already plenty of them in capsule monsters) "He told me to tell you that you really shouldn't open your stuff. Things like your clothes and all still 'smell putrid'."

No sooner had Mokuba finished talking did we hear the toilet upstairs the room that I heard Kaiba puking in flush and the sink start. After a moment of two Kaiba came still looking a little green.

"You okay?" I asked, hoping that it wasn't as bad as it looked. He looked at me and sighed.

"There is no saving your clothes." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "There's no school tomorrow, so as soon as I get off, I'm taking you to get some new ones. Until then you can borrow some of mine. Your deck and such should be fine."

"Are you sure that there isn't anything that can be done about them?" I asked, desperate for some alternative other than wearing more of his ridiculously big clothes.

"If my maids can't get the smell out of them then there is no way that it can be done." He held a tone of finality. There was no more arguing with him.

"Are you sure that you're fine though. Is there anything that I could get you?" I felt bad, after all, it was my stuff that made him look so much like shit.

"I just need to get some sleep, but I would appreciate it if you made sure that Mokuba eats and gets to bed."

"No prob man." He nodded and headed off to his room to sleep off the horrible nausea. Once he was gone I tuned to Mokuba. "You heard him squirt. It's getting late so I assume that he meant to do that now."

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about," he said looking up at me innocently. "Seto always let's me stay up as late as I want."

"Nice try," I said, grinning wide and ruffling his hair affectionately. "You got to remember, I'm a big bro too, I've seen that act plenty of times and I know for a fact that he would do no such thing."

"Dang."

"Come on, let's get you fed and into bed."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."

Outside huge black storm clouds were gathering.

**Seto POV**

I had absolutely no clue how long I had been asleep. All I knew was that I was had been rudely awakened by something crashing into me. Whatever it was, it had situated itself partially on my chest and I was really confused.

Having no idea what the hell was going on, I looked down see what it was. I was even more surprised and confused when I found some kind of shivering furry blonde mass latched onto my chest. It took moment for it sink in that the blonde mass was really Jou's hair. Worried and curious as to why he was shivering so frightfully I lifted my hand and ran my fingers through his hair. It was slightly damp from having had a shower a while before and really soft.

"What's wrong puppy?" He looked up at me with frightened, wide, brown eyes, but it wasn't him that I got my answer from. No, mother nature, with her wonderful timing, answered for him. My puppy jumped and dug his head into my chest even more than he had before as a thunder clash boomed outside. I figured that the loud noise had frightened him.

"S-sorry," he stuttered out after a few seconds. He was still shaking terribly. "I-I don't know why I'm doing this. I know that you must be really tired and that you probably still don't fell well, put it was just so loud."

There was another crash and, again, he buried his face in my chest.

"Shush," I said quietly, trying not to scare him more. "It's okay, I don't mind. You're just scared, so you're going to a bigger wolf for comfort. It's just more of your instincts from the DNA kicking in again, okay?"

He nodded and leaned closer to my hand that was still going through his hair. I thanked Kami and Ra both that it was working to calm him down, even if only a little.

"D-do you mind if I, w-well, um, you know…" he began, fiddling with the hem of one of my old button up shirts that he was wearing.

"Stay in here tonight?" I asked, finishing his question for him. He nodded again. I smiled and pulled him closer to me so that he could situate more comfortably on my bed. "Not all."

Jou had just stopped moving when a blinding flash of lightning burst brightly outside the window, followed instantly with the loudest thunder crash I heard all night.

"Good thing I have such a huge bed," I sighed. Jou gave me a confused stare.

"Why?"

"Mokuba will be in here any minute now. He always comes to my room when it's lightning this bad outside."

"Did something happen before?"

"Our house got hit by lightning not to long before mom and dad died. It's one of the very few things that he remembers. Father barely got us out in time. He was so young that its left an impression. He's taken to sleeping with me when it's like this. Another thing that shows I'm just as much a father figure to him as I am a brother. If not, more so."

"Wow, that's really bad." I could tell that he was talking about the whole lightning thing. "How long do you think until he gets here?"

I did a little math, averaging out the time it usually took and how fast the footsteps that I heard echoing through the halls were and came up with my conclusion.

"In three, two, one…"

"S-Seto?" right on the money. "A-are you awake?"

"Hop in," I said, pulling up the blanket and scooted over enough for him to squeeze in between Jou and me.

"Did the lightning scare you too?" he asked Jou as I wrapped us all up in the silk comforter and light quilt that I had on my bed.

"Nah, it's the thunder that got me." I smiled, knowing that had it of been anyone but Mokuba asking, he would of opted to say that he got lost and just decided to annoy me or something along those lines.

Once they had both stopped moving, Jou with an arm around Mokuba to help me comfort him and Mokuba cuddled up to me with his head against my shoulder, I snuggled myself closer to them and draped my arm over them both. I was more comfortable then I had been in a long while, holding the two that were most precious me in a protective embrace. I didn't want it to. After all, it had been so long since I was really part of a family like this. Yes, this was just like a family.


	11. Chapter 11

Sadistic-neko: So, do any of you assholes have anything to say to me?

Bakura: You are wasting your time! None of us will ever say it!

Sadistic-neko: (raises eyebrows) Oh? What was that? Did I just hear you say that you don't want any moments between you and Ryou for the next three chapters?

Ryou: You wouldn't really do that would you? (unleashes Puppy dog eyes just in case)

Sadistic-neko: (puts on sunglasses for protection from sparkly pearly whites) You wanna bet? (evil smile) Don't think I won't just because he's my favorite character and your just too adorable. Same thing to rest of you! (points to other yamis and hikaris)

Ryou: (looks horrified and turns to Bakura) Just say it already!

Bakura: Never!

Ryou: (turns up nose and faces away) Well I hope that you enjoy being celibate for the next month or two.

Bakura: You wouldn't do that. (Scoffs then looks unsure) Would you?

Ryou: I believe that I speak for the rest of the hikaris when I say that happily would. I would even walk out of the room if it wasn't for these damn ropes.

yamis: (looks more horrified than ever thought possible) Fine! Sadistic-neko, we're sorry for being so mean to you! You're a great author and we admit that we were wrong when we claimed that you being lazy was really the true reason that you took so long to update!

Sadistic-neko: (smiles) See, that wasn't so hard. (turns to Seto and Jou) I really can't understand why they were so stubborn.

Marik: How come those two aren't tied up like we are?

Sadistic-neko: Because they have already declared how amazingfull I am as an author and are, therefore, off the hook.

Everyone (excluding Seto, Jou and author); What? (bug eyes)

Sadistic-neko: I'm happy now, so (turns to readers) I do not own Yugioh. I really am sad, I was hoping that it was one of my presents but it wasn't. Either way, I hope that y'all like my newest chap.

I awoke the next day to a sight that I just had to chuckle at because it was just that adorable. Now you must be wondering what could be so adorable that I,_ Seto Kaiba_, would just have to chuckle.

It was Jou and Mokuba still sleeping. They were both curled up as close as they could be to my side. Jou had his arm wrapped around Mokuba and his hand resting on my chest. My arm was still wrapped around them both. Not only was it adorable, I had never been so comfortable in my entire life. I could get used to waking up like that.

I hugged them even closer, deciding that I could wait a little while before getting up. Why not take advantage of this opportunity? Snuggling into the warmth that was the blankets and the two most important people in the world to me, relaxed and waited for them to wake up.

Unfortunately, I didn't have to wait long. About five minutes later, my adorable little puppy began to stir. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at me, yawning widely.

"What time is it?" he asked, stretching as carefully as he could to keep from accidentally smacking my brother in the head. I took a quick glance at my alarm clock.

"About 7:30." I sighed regrettably, knowing what I had to do. "I better get up and get ready for work."

"Around when do you think you'll be off?" I looked over my shoulder from grabbing something to wear to the office.

"Should be around two. If you get bored, just ask Mokuba to show you to the game room. That will keep you entertained."

"What kind of games do have?" I grinned.

"Oh, you'll see." Chuckling lightly, I made my way to the bathroom.

"Oh, come on!" I heard screamed. I was alarmed at first to hear my puppy hollering like that. Then I heard the next sentence and laughed. "No fair! I haven't played this before!"

"I bet I cold still beat you even if you had played this before!" I had no idea how my little brother woke up so fast for once, but, apparently, he was completely owning Jou at whatever they were playing.

I stood in the doorway watching Mokuba doing a victory dance and Jou was pretending to sob, still trying to figure out how he lost to someone half his size. If this was a sign of what was to come, there was never going to be a quiet morning in my home again, but that was alright. I was getting something that I didn't even know I wanted.

"You really should be going easy on the poor puppy. Decks and controllers are two very different things after all." He fell backwards a little surprised, and pouted in my direction.

"Not you too!" I shook my head at him, sighing.

"You know that we're right. Anyways, you know perfectly well that there would have to be something seriously wrong with me if I wasn't picking on my puppy." He extended his arms towards me and began flailing his limbs a little.

"You're so mean!" he whined. "This is animal abuse!"

I laughed for a minute before I finally had enough breath in me to say what I had come to. How I would of loved to stay with them, but I couldn't. Sometimes, I really hated being a CEO.

"I have to go now. I'll be home as soon as I can." Mokuba ran up and hugged me.

"When you get back, we're going to get Jou some new clothes, right?" he asked, unleashing some of his most adorable eyes. I nodded. "Can we all go out to eat something for lunch?"

"Where do you want to go?"

"That pizza place that has that really cool arcade in it. We haven't been there in a long time and I'm sure that Jou will love!" His eyes shone as he spoke. He knew that I wouldn't say no and he was really looking forward to it. That place was his favorite restaurant.

"Sure."

Just as I guessed, I was off around two and I came home to find my puppy sulking in a corner and Mokuba already getting my wig and casual clothes ready. I assumed that he continued to beat Jou all day and decided to get my stuff ready for me because he got bored.

"Did you even win one?" I asked Jou who moved to my bed as I changed my shirt. When he didn't answer, I turned around to find him staring blankly at me a light blush dusting his cheeks a beautiful scarlet. I smiled, thinking that, just maybe, I wouldn't have to wait as long as I had originally thought to be with the puppy that stole my heart. "Puppy!"

"Huh? What?" He blinked a few times shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Did you win even one game?" I could see the gears grinding in his head to clear whatever fog was in the way and comprehend my question. It didn't take as long as I thought it would.

"Oh, yeah. I won one. I think he let me." His pout resurfaced and he crossed his arms, grumbling something that I didn't quite catch. "I swear that kid is almost your clone."

"What makes you think that?" I think that he could _feel _smirk even though I was facing away from him.

"He has mad skills when it comes to game, he's a freaking genius and he almost does your smirk, that I know your wearing right now, as well as you do! I'm not even sure if you're a good of bad influence!"

"A damn good one! Well, most of the time." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Fine, I have my moments. Stop looking at me like that! Just be happy that it hasn't gotten to the point that he's ridiculously scary with you yet."

A quick change into disguise and trip to a pizza joint later found us in a clothing store at the mall. Mokuba and I were fighting Jou trying to get the puppy out of the changing room he barred himself in. I wasn't even sure why.

"Puppy, what's wrong? The clothes you grabbed can't be that bad."

"When I find out which one of you slipped this in with the other stuff I am going to strangle you!" The way he said this told me that he wasn't just mad, he was totally enraged. I was afraid for both our lives. That is until, I heard the giggling coming from right next to me.

"Mokuba," I said in a reprimanding tone. "What did you do?"

"I just slipped something in that I thought that you would like and stole the rest of his clothes when I went past the changing room on the way to the bathroom." If his grin grew any wider his face would have literally split in two.

"You do realize that what you just did very well may get us killed right?" He gave me a dubious stare, obvious thinking that I was over reacting. I sighed, knowing that he wouldn't get it. "Unlike you, I have learned first hand how sharp our new fangs are. Trust me when I tell you that they hurt like hell."

He paled slightly, having already seen our wickedly pointed teeth via Malik randomly sticking a finger in Marik's mouth and pulling his lip back when I mentioned the physical changes we had gone through. It became apparent that he understood what I meant.

"Well," I began slowly. "Since we're about to die anyway, what'd you pick out?"

I knew the smile he was wearing as I asked this way too well. It was his "I-know-something-you-don't-and-I'm-planning-screwing-with-your-head-because-of-it-as-much-as-I-can" smile. Oh how I wished I could shred, burn and do so much more to that damn smile.

Not only did it destroy any illusion of innocence in him, but it always entailed something excruciatingly annoying. It was no different that time.

"You're going to have to find a way to your puppy out of that changing room." I growled deeply in my chest. Being right all of the time really sucked at times like those. Figuring using the desperate, whiny card might work, I swallowed my pride and did something I hadn't done since I was around eight or nine. I attempted the dreaded puppy dog eyes.

"Oh, come on Mokie, don't be so mean. I'm dying to know here."

Instead of teasing me for dropping so low, or for being so bad at the puppy dog eyes, he just stared at me, his eyes wide in shock. I nearly had a heart attack when tears began pouring down his cheeks.

"Mokie, are you okay? Mokie, what's wrong?" I put my hands on his shoulders, trying to snap him out of whatever he had fallen into.

Apparently Jou heard my desperate calls to my younger brother because he bolted out of the changing room, his gaze automatically falling on Mokuba. He let out a sigh of relief escaping from him as he saw that he wasn't kidnapped again or injured. Once reassured, he began whipping his tears away as I did everything that I could to try and comfort him.

"Come on, squirt, tell me what's wrong. Are you okay?" Mokuba only nodded and took a few deep breaths to compose himself.

"I-I'm sorry," he said, rubbing his eyes. "I-it's just that Seto called me Mokie."

I smiled tenderly at him, realizing for the first that I had called him by the nickname I had given him all of those years ago, just after our parents died. I hadn't called him that since we were adopted by that bastard Gozaboro. I pulled him into my arms, giving a gentle yet fierce hug.

"Hey now Mokie," I whispered softly in his ear. "I'm sorry that it hurt you so much that I stopped calling you by your nickname, but I promise that I'll try to keep calling by that like I used to. You better get used to it pretty soon."

"I will." He rubbed his eyes, getting the last of the tears. "It's just great to have the old you back. You better not change again."

I chuckled as he gave me an adorable attempt at my famous glare. He didn't know that I didn't want to go back to that, or how right he was when he said that the old me was back. I could feel my heart mending itself, gradually turning back into the happy child that I used to be the more I spent time with Jou and Mokuba. I knew that I would never be able to get the innocence and naivety that I used to posses just all people do as children, but I could recover the joy.

It was amazing how free I felt. I hadn't felt so happy and liberated since my and Mokie's parents died and I didn't want it to end. My life was truly starting to look up.

Speaking of looking up, that was exactly what I did once I was sure that Mokuba was fine. As my gaze fell on Jou, my eyes widened so much that I think they rolled into the corner of the room. All I could think was, "Damn Mokie has good taste. He was right about me liking it."

Jou was wearing _very_ form fitting leather pants that hugged him like a second skin. The shirt kind of reminded me of the one Malik wore when he was in his school uniform (the one from battle city before Marik took control), except that it clung to his chest, which was the only thing that it covered. The sleeves were about three-quarter and he looked completely _hot_! No, wait, even saying that he was completely hot is a major understatement. He was, by far the hottest thing to walk on two feet and have blonde hair.

"Whoa," I breathed out without thinking. As he heard my voice, the puppy jumped, ran to grab his clothes and bolted to the changing room. I hadn't realized how low the leather pants were precariously perched until he gave me that wonderful view of his ass as it bounced while he ran. Something else also dawned on me as he disappeared behind the changing room door. He was a whole hell of a lot curvier than I had originally thought.

He was the _definition_ of beauty and all out sexiness. I turned to my brother, giving him the most approving look that I could manage while trying my damndest to prevent the nose bleed that was dying to burst forth.

"Have I ever told you that you are the most amazing little brother to ever be born?" He beamed at me, proudly taking in my praise like a sponge.

"Not lately." I watched in contentment as he giggled to himself. "I knew that you would love it. After all, it just screamed 'Jou'." I nodded and saw that my puppy was exiting his hiding place.

"Do you everything that you wanted?" I asked and became confused as he bit his lip. I was worried that he was going to cut himself by accident again. So worried that I grabbed his chin and directed his adverted eye to look straight into my steady gaze. "Is something wrong puppy?"

"N-nothing. I'm absolutely fine."

"Well, I don't believe you. You should know after these last few weeks that you can tell me anything."

He tightened his grip on the clothes that he had pressed against his chest and adverted his gaze again. After a moment or two, he sighed and began looking at his feet, covering his eyes with his bangs.

"It's just, I don't feel comfortable imposing on you so much. Not only are you letting me live with you and Mokuba, but your taking care of my dad and buying me new clothes. I just don't think that you have to do so much for me when I can't give you anything in return."

I smiled, happy that he was thinking so much about me, but I didn't want him to worry like he was. I ruffled his hair, showing him that everything was okay.

"Is that all? If so you really are being a silly puppy." He looked up at me, his eyes wide in shock. "If I didn't want to do this, then I wouldn't. I'm actually happy to have you living with Mokie and me. Have you not seen how large and lonely the mansion is? It's great to someone else there. I could afford to buy this whole mall anyways, so it's not like getting you a couple of outfits is going to hurt my wallet any. Just don't worry about, okay?"

"I still don't feel comfortable with it," he said with an adorable pout. I smirked as the little light bulb above lit up that would solve not only his problem, but one of mine too.

"If you feel like you need to earn it, then why don't you become my assistant at the office? I'll pay you too, so you can buy your own stuff. Would that be better?"

"Really?" he asked in astonishment. I nodded.

A huge smile illuminated his face as he dropped his clothes and hugged me fiercely. Wearing a smile of my own, I hugged him back.

"Thank you so much!"

"It's not a problem."


	12. Chapter 12

Yamis: (stare at author)

Sadistic-neko: what's up with those looks? (squirms as the relentless crimson/violet eyes continue to stare) Stop looking at me! It hasn't been that long since I've updated! Nine days isn't that bad! Especially compare to when I went all last summer without updating!

Yami: (sighs) As much as I hate to agree, you're right.

Marik: You better not do that again! I swear, that was the longest couple of months ever! Do you realize how bitchy the damn priest was? He was almost dying with impatience, waiting for you to get him and the mutt together!

Seto: (uses sneaky advantage of animal DNA to get behind Marik and knocks him out with a club) That'll show the fool.

Bakura: when the hell are you putting the green hair runt in anyway? That Build-A-Whore, Sakura, is really annoying the hell out of me asking when he'll make an appearance constantly!

Sadistic-neko: next chap. Now that that's understood (turns to readers) I do not own Yugioh, but all of the insanity in this story is 100% percent mine. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to R&R!

**Jou POV**

I had been living with Seto and Mokuba for a good two months and life couldn't be better!

I had everything that I could ever want. Good food, a job that paid damn well and a private tutor that worked a miracle and got me making A's in all of my classes. Most importantly, though, I had a family. People that always greeted me with a smile whenever I walked through the door and that I was happy to be with.

The best part was that I wasn't the only one that felt that way. From the little messages that Seto was sending me, like letting me call him by his first name, and how perfectly adorably open Mokie was his adoration of me, both Kaiba brothers were just as happy as I was. I almost burst into tears when Mokie asked Seto and me to go to some school thing and introduced as the _two_ most amazing older brothers ever.

But enough of that. I bet you all want to know the important stuff, so here it is.

I was laying on the couch in Seto's study, having already finished my homework, incredibly, a long time before. Having nothing better to do since he didn't really need me for anything at the moment, I was reading a book that he had recommended. It was pretty good. In fact, it was so good that I almost didn't even notice the phone ringing.

"Kaiba Speaking," Seto answered in that damn monotone. He was lucky that he only used it around the office and people related to it, or else I would smack him. Mokie was completely with me on the subject of him being way better when he was expressing his emotions. "I understand, I'll be there first thing in the morning."

There was something in voice that alarmed me. It sounded too tight. Almost as if he were trying to hold back a growl. I wasn't sure what that call was about, but I was worried. It wasn't every day that something upset him so much that he almost broke the phone in his hand. I got up and put my hand on his shoulder.

"What was that?" I was careful. He had yet to unleash his rage upon me since I had moved in with him, but that didn't mean that the threat of him doing something accidentally didn't exist. "Was it bad?"

He took a deep breath and began to stare blankly into space. The internal battle that he was having on whether or not to tell me was clear even in the air. Whatever it was, he was having a difficult time with. It was causing him pain.

At last, he sighed and grabbed the hand that I still had on his shoulder.

"That was Dr. Mikawa." We both tightened our grip on each other's hand as he said the name. I had only heard it once or twice, but I knew very well who she was. "She said that you father is taking very well to his treatment and wants to have a conference of sorts. It's going to be tomorrow morning."

I was beyond feeling the surprise that I knew should have been there. To tell the truth, I was beyond feeling anything. The only thing I could feel was the comforting warmth coming from Seto's hand.

"O-oh, he wants to see us. W-well, I guess I should have exp-"

"No puppy," Seto whispered, pulling me into his lap, wrapping his arms around me in a powerful embrace. "He just wants to see me. He's requested that you not come."

"W-why?" Tears were rolling down my face as I heard that my own father didn't even want to see me. Was he angry at me for indirectly putting him in that hospital? Did he hate me?

"I don't know, but I promise to find out. Whatever it is, it probably isn't as bad as what you think it is, okay?" Every word he said was soft, soothing. Spoken in the same way that he did when Mokie had a bad dream or when I was scared during a thunderstorm. Just the sound alone was able to make my body relax against my will. All I could do was nod. "Good puppy. Now no more crying."

Even as he brushed the tears from my face in a tender fashion, the world was becoming a huge blur. The emotional exhaustion I was feeling was seeping into all of my muscles. I was only vaguely aware of Seto standing up with me still in his arms and walking down the familiar set of hallways to his room.

Once he reached his room, he set me down on his bed and took off my shirt and socks. He glanced at the wardrobe on the other side of the room then back on me and just pulled his own shirt off and proceeded to strip down to his boxers. At last he climbed into the bed and pulled me against his chest.

"Go to sleep puppy, you need it," he said, shifting me so my head was on his shoulder and I was securely wrapped up in his arms. "I'll take you to Yugi's place before I head over to the clinic, okay?"

I nodded, barely comprehending what he was saying. I just let my mind wander, sort of focusing on all of the familiar things surrounding me. The blankets and walls. Most of all, though, the feeling of the arms that were wrapped so wonderfully around me. Finally, the black void, otherwise known as unconsciousness, overcame me and I fell into a fitful sleep.

When I awoke the next morning, I was surprised to find that Seto wasn't there. He never woke up before me! At least not since I started living with him. I almost jumped when I heard the door to the bathroom open. He was standing in the doorway, one towel wrapped around his waist and another in his hand drying out his hair. Water droplets were rolling teasingly down his chest only to disappear when they reached the towel.

"I was going to wake you once I got dressed, but since you're up now anyway, you better get ready to go to the game shop." His eyes were hard, and It took me a while to think of what could possibly be the cause. Then it hit me, the meeting with my pops. I began shaking, and Seto, being the ridiculously observant person that he was, noticed immediately. "Don't worry puppy. I promise that, as soon as I can, I'll come back to pick you up. I was even thinking of taking the day off and taking you and Mokie to the zoo to see that litter of tiger cubs that you two have been so excited about."

I perked up a little. Would he really take the day off? He hadn't done that since that day that he took me get those clothes.

"Really?" He smiled.

"Of course. I think that we've all earned it."

"Can Yug and the others come too?"

"I'm not so sure ab-" I gave him the biggest, most adorable puppy dog eyes that I could, having already learned that the squirt wasn't the only one that could make Mr. Iceblock melt with them. "Fine!"

I grinned triumphantly, running up to him and tackling him into my mega glomp. He let out a small sound of surprise and oomphed as he hit the ground.

"You're the best! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"Yours and Mokie's puppy dog eyes are going to be the death of me. You do realize that you two could rule the world armed with just those alone, right?" I shrugged nonchalantly and smiled wider.

"You still love us though."

"Yeah," he said, ruffling my hair. "I must really be a masochist."

That was when he gave me a smile that I just couldn't comprehend. It was happy and sad at the same time, holding the everlasting patience that I knew he possessed, and anxiousness that I couldn't fathom. There seemed to be pride and adoration mixed in too, and something else that I couldn't place. Something that I knew, had seen on a regular basis, not only in his eyes, but also in the eyes of others. Where? I couldn't remember. It was too stunning to think straight. Oh well, I could figure it out later.

"Get off now, please." I blinked a moment before remembering that I was sitting on his chest. Oops. Once I jumped off, I offered him my hand to help him up. "Once you're ready, we'll leave."

**Seto POV**

Having just dropped Jou and getting silent confirmation from my ancient cousin that he would keep an eye on my puppy, I was on my way to Dr. Mikawa's clinic. I wasn't really sure what to expect, nor could I figure out why Jounochi-san wanted to talk me only.

Brushing it off, I figured that I would find out soon enough as I pulled into the clinic's parking lot. This was going to be a long day.

It took about a half an hour to get through security, and I was now _finally_ sitting at a table across from the very man that hurt my puppy so awfully. I tried to remember that we were trying to help him and forced myself to wait till he spoke before decking him.

"What is it that you wanted to speak too me about?" I kept my voice even and cold. Jou would have smacked me in the back of the head for using that tone, but oh well. It was taking everything in me not to let my raging wolf instincts take over and tear the bastard that hurt my intended mate so badly to shreds.

"I-I," he started, clearly intimidated by my covered hostility. Trying to calm himself a little, he took a breath. "I wanted to thank you, and to ask you a few questions."

I was shocked. From all of the information that I had gotten from my puppy and the various files from police and others on this man, I assumed that he would be more angry than this. I was prepared for the violent reactions typical of an addict taken away from their fix. Especially when faced with people like me. The ones that were, ultimately, responsible for it being taken away from them.

"What kinds of questions?" I asked cautiously. I still wasn't sure of what to expect from that man. He looked at me desperately when he figured out that there was a chance that I answer him.

"H-how is my son? Is he okay? Where is he staying?" everything came out in a worried rush. I stopped it with a glare. After all, hypocritical jackasses like him really pissed me off.

"Why should I tell you?" I asked deathly soft, my rage pouring off of my in waves. I was so tempted to sink my claws into him and watch him bleed. "You haven't seemed to give much of a damn for the past few years. Why start now?"

I could see that my words truly stung him. I took no little satisfaction knowing this. It was what the son of a bitch deserved. He hung his head in shame.

"I understand what you mean," he said so softly that I didn't think that I would have been able to hear it if my hearing wasn't as enhanced as it was. "I've been such a horrible father to him since his mother left. I've hurt him so much, I don't deserve to know how he's doing. He probably hate me now anyway."

I was stunned to see drops of water hit his hand as a salty sent ravaged my nose. As I stood (I had no idea when I got out of my seat) watching the image of a broken man sobbing in front of me, I lost all of my hostility. All I could feel was pity.

"If you want me to answer your questions, then I want you to answer some of mine first," I said, taking my seat again. He looked up at me again, eyes wide and hopeful, and nodded. "Why the change? I was at your house right before you were brought here. You didn't seem like a man that wanted help. Just more booze."

"You're right. It disgusts me to know that I sank that low. Even after being here for a couple of days, I still didn't think it was that bad, but then I saw an interview someone was giving Jou. As I watched him talk about how he used to be in a gang and how he fought his way out and had been believing in his friends and something called 'The heart of the cards'. I realized then that I didn't know anything about my own son. That I was hurting him horribly."

He was shaking, trying to keep himself in check. I sighed, knowing what I had to do.

"I can see that you're determined to right your wrongs, so I guess that I should tell you about your son." His face lit up brighter than a Christmas tree. "He has been staying with my younger brother and me in our mansion. He's been fine, but he was really hurt when I told him that you didn't want to see him. He cried himself to sleep." I gave him a pointed glare, some of my anger returning as a picture of my puppy's tear stained face and the sound of his heart breaking sobs rang through my mind. "That's something else that I want explained, now."

For the second time, his head went down in shame. It wasn't the broken shame that he displayed earlier. Something about it seemed more exasperated.

"I still want to hit the bottle. So much that it feels like it's killing me," he began. "I know that I don't deserve to ask him for forgiveness, especially like this. The next time he sees me, I want him to be able to see me as a man that deserves to call him his son. Please let him know that, I don't want him to be hurt any more because of me."

"I will," I said inwardly smiling, knowing that it would make Jou happy. Then I thought of something. "Once you get out of here, what are you planning on doing?"

"I-I honestly don't know. I haven't really had a decent job in ages and the house has probably been reprocessed by now."

"Then how about I make a deal with you?" I watched amused as he eyed me cautiously. I assumed that he knew that not all deals I made with others were necessarily good.

"What kind of deal?"

"When you get out, I'll take you to see Jou and give you a job and new home." His disbelief seemed to grow more. He knew that something this good was usually too good to be true.

"What's the catch?"

"You work hard and never touch alcohol again." I gave him my coldest look, letting him know how serious I was. "If you take this deal and begin to deviate back to being a man drowning himself in booze again, I can assure you that there will be hell to pay."

"It would be nothing more than what I deserve. Before I accept though, would you tell me what kind of job you were planning on giving me. I imagine that it's with your own company. It would be easier to keep an eye on me that way, right." Wow, he was smarter than he looked. Even recovering from damage done to him constant alcohol abuse, he was able to figure out half of my reason for offering such a deal.

"Yes," I responded, thinking back to what I read on him. "I believe that I remember reading something about you being the head of some kind of construction team in your file. It said that, had you not done what you had in response to your life, the owner was going to give the entire company to you since he was planning on retiring."

"Yeah." His voice turned melancholy, a sad smile spreading itself across his features. "The old man was great. I think that he was one of the most disappointed when I began my downward spiral."

"If you would be willing to, I was hoping that you could be a construction coordinator for my company. It would eliminate a lot of complications. I've been meaning to get someone to do the job, but I haven't found the right person."

"I would love to, it you would except me." I leaned back, smiling for the who knew what number time that day. There was no helping it, since I knew how happy my puppy would be. Not only was I winning some major points and getting closer to being able to confidently confess to him, but I was making sure that his family life was all the better.

"How about you start immediately? I could have the plans for the next Kaiba Land that I plan on having built next year sent to you to look over. Granted that you keep the plans under lock and key. We can't have the competition getting hold of them." He nodded vigorously.

Two hours later found me in my car on my way to pick up Jou and the others. (good thing I invested in that van, huh?) I wasn't even two feet into the game shop before I was tackled by an adorable blonde blur. Imagine my surprise when I randomly found myself on the floor staring up at the ceiling.

"Is everything okay puppy?" I asked as I noticed that he was crying again. I wiped his tears away and waited for him get his bearings.

"H-how'd it go?" He unleashed the biggest, wateriest eyes I had ever seen. Having just figured out that he was crying because he was worried about my meeting with his father.

"It went fine." I gave his head a reassuring pat. "Just so you know, he doesn't hate you. He told me that he doesn't want you to see him again until he knows for sure that he's better. That way you will be able to him as a man worth calling your father."

The tears began to pour out more ferociously, but they were tears of joy. He gave me a grateful smile and then threw his arms around me, burying his head in my chest. In response, I wrapped my arms around him and rubbed soothing circles into his back, letting him release all of the pent up emotions that had been tormenting him since the night before. At last his sobs quieted and the waterworks turned off.

"Feel better now?" He nodded. "Then why don't you go clean up while I round up the rest of the pack so we can go to the zoo like I promised?"

I had never seen a more elated look on anyone's face than the one that Jou wore as he practically shrieked in delight and ran to the nearest bathroom.


	13. Chapter 13

Sadistic-neko: Hi everyone! I'm back! (Turns to Seto and Jou) How'd I do?

Seto: (Looks over content on computer) Not bad. You even introduced another character. I thought you said that you were going to stick to the manga though.

Jou: (Nods in agreement) It is cute though.

Sadistic-neko: I know, I know. I'm not sure if he's really in it, been so long since I read that part of the series, but I to use someone. He's actually really important to the story line. As hard as it may seem to believe, there really is some form of method to the madness I am writing.

Jou: There aren't that many reviews, huh?

Sadistic-neko: I know. It makes me sad, but even just one of the loving feedbacks I've gotten makes so motivated to type that I just can't stop.

Seto: Since I know that she'll just keep going on about the reviews all day. Sadistic-neko does not own Yugioh and she hopes that the random yaoi that just popped into her head will thoroughly entertain you.

**Jou POV**

The trip to the zoo was absolutely one of the most hilarious things I had ever experienced! Putting eight people with various species of animal DNA in a place with tons of other animals is not something that I would recommend unless you are _really_ prepared for what you're getting yourself into. I mean, we almost gave the zookeepers heat attacks!

Then again, there was one point that _we_ almost had heart attacks! That was when_ Ryou_ _growled_ and _cursed_ at some of the tigers. Do you see why we were shocked now? I mean it was so unbelievable!

We were just standing there when one of the females walked up to the glass that separated us and rubbed against the glass right in front of the Bakura. When Ryou noticed this, he stomped up to his yami, grabbed his wrist to get his arm around him and growled at her.

"He's mine bitch." We had never thought that he had it in him, especially not Bakura! His eye were wide and he dragged Ryou away as fast as he could before he attacked the other tiger.

Once at the lions pen, a couple tried luring Yug into being their mate! One glare form Yami sent them packing though. It was such a sight to see. Yami had his arms around Yug as the younger one was nuzzling his head into the others chest, trying to sooth his rage. At he least the poor male didn't get scent to the shadow real at least.

Then there was Marik and Malik. Now them, being the insane Egyptians that are, decided that messing around with the mountain lions would be a ton of fun. I had to admit that was funny watching them build up the cats' hopes as they pretended to respond to their attempts at being noticed as mates. That was, until a zookeeper told us that we had to leave them alone or get kicked out.

It was kind of weird though when we got to the wolves though. You see, Seto left to grab the two of us and Mokie something to drink and as I got closer to the wild canines, the largest male began to puff its chest out. After a few minutes of laughing at the weird antics it was pulling, I noticed a strange chill emanating from behind me. It actually made me shiver.

That's when the wolf, having also noticed the deathly aura, fixed his gaze to something just behind me. He whimpered, then put his tail between his legs, flattened his ears to his head and walked away pitifully. Wondering what the hell that was about, I turned around.

Seto was the one that was releasing the venomous waves. He was scowling in the direction that the male had run off in and his hand trembled in, what I assumed, was the desire to clench his hands into fists. The only thing keeping him from doing so was the fact that he was our drinks and didn't want to spill them to just have to go and get more.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Why would he be looking so pissed?

"Nothing," he replied curtly, the words ground out through tightly clenched teeth. After taking a deep breath, he handed me my drink and we went with the others, following a hyperactive Mokie, to the next animals.

Another thing that you should know. Our hunting instincts didn't just shut off. Even though were able to just go eat whenever we felt like it, we still found those gazelle pretty damn tasty looking. Do not worry though, we went to the nearest place that was smoking some meat.

By the time that we got back to the mansion, we were all laughing like a bunch of drunks. Well, all of us except Seto, of course. He was just smiling at our antics, letting us do whatever we really felt like.

We were just as delirious as drunks too, in a way. Our over active instincts and the fun we had just had seemed to mix like sugar and Mokie. We were going nuts! Especially the hikaris and me.

"I get the feeling that none of you are in the mood to go home, huh?" Seto asked as we finished singing along with some music video.

"No!" the others yelled, their words laced with another outburst of laughter.

"Well then, what should I do?" he asked himself, tapping his lips with his index finger as if in deep thought. It was obvious that the good mood had spread even to him. As rare as that was, it made me all the happier. Then his face lit up as if the light bulb floating over his head just turned on. "I know, how about you all spend the night?"

His question was met with loud whoops and cheers. The partying didn't have to end!

The yamis, hikaris and Mokie all went running to the humungous plasma screen and started yelling at each other about what game they would play. I was about to join them when I heard chuckling behind me. Seto was just sitting on the couch watching the others, his eyes sparkling in a way that I had never seen before.

"Aren't you going too?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion. He absolutely loved games! Normally nothing would be able to keep him from playing! Especially if Yug or Yami was too!

"No." He turned his, almost, gleeful gaze to me, his lips curving into a small smile. "I'm good here."

The smile I gave him in response wouldn't of been able to be stopped even if I wanted to. His behavior was unusual, yes, but it wasn't bad. It was great to see him that happy. Even more than would be typical, taking his past into account. Following the sudden impulse that hit me, I sat down next to him, closer than I would have previously dared.

"Is the world ending or something?" I asked playfully. "You're actually letting Yug, Ryou and the 'four psycho Egyptians' spend the night in your house. I would think that it would be too loud for you."

"You never know when someone more loony than the four psycho Egyptians may show up and send the world to hell." He nudged my side with his elbow just as playfully as I had asked, and leaned back, draping his arms on the back of the couch. One of them was behind me, but was so close that it felt more like he was draping his arm around my shoulders. I looked up and saw that he was looking at the others. The expression he wore was so at peace that it amazed me. "All the noise isn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"Really?" That was a shock. Even after living with him, I would of never thought that he would enjoy such rowdy activity.

"Yeah." That's when something happened that I couldn't explain. His eyes locked onto mine, and I experienced a feeling that I hadn't felt before. A haze seemed to come over me and my cheeks felt heated. All I was aware of was the mystically hypnotic blue eyes staring into mine and the warm, wonderfully delicious scent that seemed to envelop me just as protectively as his arms did when I needed him.

I didn't know what was happening to me, but it was so wonderful that I didn't want it to end. Unfortunately, it did. What snapped me out of my trance, was a knock at the front door. No, it sounded more like something hit it. I looked from the door back to Seto and he seemed on edge.

His back was rigid and his muscles tense. We didn't know what was at the door, but past experience taught us to be weary. There was just as good of a chance that it was the evil scientist again as there was it being one of the maids that forgot their purse and keys. (which happened more than you would think it would.) He gave the yamis a look and motioned for me to go to the hikaris and Mokie as he the other "males" cautiously began to inch towards the door.

The hikaris, Mokie and I huddled together behind the couch that I had previously been occupying. We watched intently as they took a sniff around the door to see if they could recognize the scent behind it. We all tensed as a low growl quietly echoed through the room emanated from Seto's throat. He didn't know that scent, meaning that it wasn't anyone that we knew. (the only people that we knew and hadn't memorized their scents were those that we hadn't been around since all of that happened to us.)

I don't think that any of us so much as blinked while Seto inched carefully to the door, grabbing the knob as if he thought it was going to bite him. Meanwhile, Yami positioned himself in just a way that he would be able to pounce on whoever was there if he deemed it harmful. We all held our breaths as Seto opened the door.

Instead of the evil scientist that we were expecting, to our surprise, we were met with a collapsed form lying just in front of the doorway. It looked as though he fainted and the noise we heard earlier was him hitting it. What astonished us the most though, was the head of green hair that was reflecting the lights coming from inside.

Before any of us had time to think, Mokie flew out from his position behind the couch next to me to his brother.

"S-Seto!" he cried in a mixture of astonishment and horror. "I think that's Noah!"

He was right. We all stood there just staring, as if mystified. Mokie broke us out of our revere pretty quick though.

"I-I think that something's wrong with him!" he yelled from his spot kneeling next to the, what had previously been, virtual boy. "He's burning up!"

"Shit!" I heard Seto curse under his breath so low that Mokie couldn't hear it. Then he spoke up. "Mokie, call the doctor! Jou, keep him calm!"

"Yugi, Malik, Ryou! Help Jou! Marik, stay with them and make sure that nothing happens to them! Bakura come with Seto and me to watch over Noah!" Yami began shouting orders like the pack alpha male that he truly was.

We didn't even really wait till he was done to get to our respective jobs. We moved quick as a flash without question.

The hikaris, Marik and I got to Mokie, he had already finished his call to the doc and was practically hyperventilating and tears were running down his face. As soon as I saw the state he was, I gabbing him in a bone crushing hug and whispered as soothingly as I could to him.

I didn't know how long I had stayed there, just holding him and the hikaris patting and rubbing his back. All I knew was that it was a long after the door flew open and slammed shut, showing that the doc arrived and the sun was coming up. At last, though, the squirt finally tuckered himself out and passed out in my arms. I almost wanted to cry myself when I saw just how red and puffy his eyes were and how tearstained his cheeks were.

I had never seen him so scared as he was for the green haired kid. That was saying a lot since I had seen him while he was being held captive by insane, power hungry people threatening his life without batting an eyelash. Then I could hear footsteps coming closer to us and tensed, readying myself to attack if I had to protect the pup in my arms. Call it a mothering instinct if you want, but I can guarantee that if it was really someone that was going to hurt the pack's pup they would have been dead faster than they could blink.

Just as I was about to wake Marik up and get him to help me, since we all know how nut that guy is, a familiar scent hit my nose. It was a sent that relaxed me like no other and made me feel so protected that all I wanted to do was just let it envelope me and never let go. Instead, I turned to source and found Seto with the most concerned looked directed at Mokie and me.

"Is he okay?" he asked, kneeling next to me and gently tucking some of his brother's hair behind his ear.

"Yeah," I sighed. "He cried himself to exhaustion. How's Noah?"

"He should be fine now." As we spoke to each other, he lifted Mokie out of my arms and began carrying the younger to his room. I got up to follow, but man did I have a fine time with it, considering that I had been sitting with Mokie in my so long that I couldn't feel my legs anymore.

"What was wrong with him?"

"Remember when we were trapped in his virtual world?" I nodded. "Do you remember why Gozaboro put him in there in the first place?"

I paled, remembering all too well. It was the reason that he was trying to steal one of our bodies in the first place. An illness that was slowly killing him.

"You don't mean that he still has that do you?" I was horrified. I couldn't even imagine the hell that the kid was going through. The only thing that kept me from grieving him already though, was that Seto told me earlier that he would be fine. He would never lie about something like that. Something so serious.

"He does, but, luckily for us all, the cure was found earlier this year." He smiled as he tucked Mokie into bed. "Our family just keeps getting bigger and bigger, huh?"

"You know you love it," I said, chocking back a sob as relieved tears began pouring like a waterfall down my cheeks of their own volition. Without even thinking, I hugged him, nuzzling my head into his chest. I think that it was more of a primal instinct than anything else. It was a way to thank him for protecting, mot only me, but the now _two_ pups that were under our care.

"I can't deny that." He chuckled lightly as he put his arm around my waist and led me out of the room after giving his little brother one last loving look. "We better get some rest. Noah shouldn't be waking up for a long while yet."

It was then that I realized just how tired I was and I was happy that he was helping me to the room that we shared the entire time I had lived with him. I couldn't even remember going through the door before I was out like a light.


	14. Chapter 14

Sadistic-neko: I'm so happy that I've gotten to update this already! Those of you nice enough to review_ thank you so much_! I love you all. I would love you even more and, probably update at a greater speed if you update more and get other to also.

Bakura: As hard as it is to believe, she really does type more when you update, so, for all of the other characters' and me, please update. Seto is going nut just begging that she get him to confess to the Mutt and have the damn lemon and other surprises that she has planned. It's driving the rest of us nuts!

Sadistic-neko: Since I'm in such a good mood right now, I'll forgive you for being rude to the wonderful readers. Now, would you be so kind as to help me with the author's note?

Bakura: Will it get you to start the chapter sooner?

Sadistic-neko: Carlo que si.

Bakura: What the hell does that mean?!

Sadistic-neko: I just learned it in my Spanish class! It means of course!

Bakura: Then, yes, I'll help with the damn disclaimer.

Both: Sadistic-neko does not own Yugioh! We hope that you enjoy the new chap!

**Seto POV**

I _really _wanted to kill the damn yamis and their hikaris. Why you ask? Because the little bastards decided that it would be funny to get up early and take pictures of Jou and me while we were sleeping. That, and they wouldn't stop going on about how cute we looked together or making sexual comments. Just wonderful. Well, the blush painting Jou's cheeks was at least.

"Well, damn," Bakura began. "Why didn't you tell us that you were so close to the dog, Priest?"

"Go to hell," I groaned, pulling the blanket over my head, hoping to drown them out. My stupid heightened sense of hearing had other plans though. I wanted nothing more than to make them fall through a pit and leave me the hell alone.

Just as I thought that though, I heard Marik yelp in pain. Wondering what the hell was going on, I sat up and almost had my face introduced to a flying sennen rod. I was able to react just fast enough to catch it before it could hit me.

As soon as it hit my hand though, I wished I hadn't. There are no words to describe the pain that coursed through me. Most of it was centered in my head. Having it slowly sawed off would've hurt less, it seemed. I was only vaguely aware that I curled up into a ball, gripping onto my head as if that would alleviate some of the agony I was going through. Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, I passed out.

**Jou POV**

I watched in fascinated horror as Seto began writhing in pain. Once he curled in on himself was when I began screaming.

"What's going on?" I asked/yelled at the top of my lungs, looking around frantically at the yamis, praying that they had the answer. "What's wrong with him?"

Now out of his shocked stupor, Yami ran to my and Seto's side, looking him over as soon as he was two feet from him. After a moment, he tensed and shot the most terrifying glare I had ever seen in Marik's direction. He, and everyone else, that was present in the room took that as a cue to get the hell out of there.

"This is a reaction to the sennen rod." His voice was colder than ice. The only thing that I could compare it to was seeing Seto pissed off in his pre-Death-T days. "It would appear that it's slowly awakening his old memories and unlocking his shadow powers."

"Why's it hurting him?" I could feel the tears just dying to pour out of my eyes. Not even bothering think about what I was doing, I grabbed him and hugged his head that I had put in my lap at one point or another.

"Shadow magic is both very powerful and very dangerous." I didn't think that it was possible for Yami's expression to darken any more than it already was, but he sure found a way to accomplish that. "Seto, being the cautious person that he has always been, probably locked away the secrets of his shadow power into the farthest recesses of his mind in a place that even _he_ couldn't reach. Something similar to what I did when I was sealed in the sennen puzzle. After all, you never know what you'll be like once you're reincarnated. Anything could affect you, especially the circumstances he was put into. If his past actions are anything to go by, it would seem that his caution was well worth it."

As much as I wanted to defend him, I knew that Yami was right. Seto was like he was _freaking possessed_ when we first met him, even if it wasn't really his fault. I just wanted the pain that he was going through to end. No one deserved to go through the absolute torture that he was experiencing.

"Can we stop it?" I asked, half whimpering as his face began contort more and sweat poured down his face like a river. My whimper grew in volume as Yami shook his head, sorrow and weariness evident in the very air around him. "Is there anything that we can do to make this less painful?"

"The only thing that I can do is make him go to sleep. It won't make the pain go away, but it will make it more bearable."

"Please do it then." I wasn't sure if I was even understandable through the sobbing I was doing as I begged Yami. He nodded again, putting his hand on Seto's forehead and closed his eyes, concentrating. I could feel the power of his shadow magic building up as the sennen eye began to glow on his forehead. As Seto went limp against me, I couldn't help but let some tears of relief escape my eyes.

I just sat there a while, letting Seto's head fall into my lap again and gently running my fingers through his hair, which somehow seemed to help relax him. After a while, I heard light, sleepy steps traveling down the hallway getting closer and closer to the room we were in. it was then that I came to a horrible realization. Mokie was still traumatized from what was going on with Noah and his older brother, the one that he was going to go to for comfort, was out of commission.

"What are we going to do about Mokie?" I asked, looking to Yami, knowing that he would have the answer. "It's bad enough that he saw Noah like he was last night, but I don't think that he'll be able handle seeing Seto like this on top of that. Should I go out there and take care of him."

"No." Yami's voice was low and authoritative. I couldn't tell what the expression he was wearing meant, but, as his tone hinted to, I didn't question him. "The hikaris will take care of him. The only thing that you need to is stay with Seto and wait for him to wake up. Understand?"

"Yes." If I were to be truthful, I was hoping that he would tell me that. I loved Mokie like he was my own little bro, but I just had this feeling that the older brother needed me more. "What will you and the other yamis do then?"

"Since my ancient cousin would, probably, rather there be as small a number of people in here as possible, we will, most likely, be with Noah. We'll let you know if he wakes up."

"Do you want me to let you know when Seto awakens?" At this point, my legs were beginning to get tingly so I moved out form under him and, carefully, placed his head on the pillow. I was surprised when Yami laughed.

"No," he said between some of the most ominous sounding chuckles that ever met my ears. "I have a feeling that we'll all know when he's awake. At least Marik will."

A cold chill went down my back as he walked out of the room. As soon as the door closed, I looked at the other person occupying the bed and began to worry. I knew that, since Yami assured me that he would be okay, he would be, but I couldn't help worrying about something else. Would he still be the same person?

I couldn't bare to think that he wouldn't be. I had really grown attached to him and Mokie and I relied on him so much. The thing that really scared me though was the thought that maybe we wouldn't be as close anymore. The bond we were creating was becoming more precious than anything to me, and I hope that, to him, it was second only to Mokie.

Trying to force the thoughts away, I decided to lay down and let the bigger wolf's warmth relax me. It was strange, I thought at the time, when, as soon as I was curled comfortably about a foot away from him, he grabbed me by my waist and pulled me flush against his side closer than he ever had.

At first, I thought that he had woken up, but, to my disappointment, when I checked, he was still sleeping like a log. Apparently, he had done that completely unconsciously. Sighing deeply, I allowed my panic exhausted mind to slow down and sleep overpowered me. I didn't want to, considering that he might need someone else there for him when he woke up, but I couldn't help it. His arm wrapped so protectively around me and the warm smell that was so very addictive, just made my eyelids so heavy that it was unbearable.

**Seto POV**

I opened my eyes to be greeted to a room that I had never seen before, yet, somehow, felt more familiar to me than my own. It was dark and dank, yet there seemed to be some kind of vibrant light shining somewhere I couldn't place, its warmth enveloping me.

Sitting up and looking around, I groaned as my gaze met the dull, empty, blue gaze of the Egyptian wearing a turban that always seemed to randomly show up. Like always, he held an air of mystery and seemed to know more than I did about _something_, which you know pissed me off.

Trying to ignore him, I looked around at anything that wasn't him, knowing that he would wait for me to initiate the conversation anyway. I was stunned when I found three pictures standing on an ornate, Egyptian stone desk.

The first one, the one that was in the oldest looking frame, was of a woman. She had long, flowing white hair and the most sorrowful blue eyes that I had ever seen. Her shoulders were thin, almost bony, as if she never really had enough to eat. Her skin was also much paler than would normally be healthy, especially since she was from a land were everybody was tan. I knew that it was all part of her though. After all, she, the woman that I had saved sometime in my past life, Kisara, was the Blue Eyes White Dragon.

The next was a child that I could recognize anywhere. His long black hair and vibrant, mischievous eyes were something that I wouldn't want to go too long without seeing. He was Mokie.

The last one was the one that made my heart speed up. The glorious, shining golden hair and warm, almost melty, honey-brown eyes transfixed me. I couldn't tear my gaze from him. He was so beautiful that it almost hurt to look. This picture was of the one that stole my heat without knowing. The captivating creature presented in the photo was none other than Jou.

"Were am I?" I asked, my hand reaching for the picture of the object of my affection of its own accord. There was silence for a moment.

"Do you really not know?" Shadi asked in his annoying flat voice. What really annoyed me though was that he was right.

"This is my inner mind, isn't it?" he only nodded in response. "Why am I here?"

"The sennen rod has returned to you. It is beginning to rip apart the binds that you put on the most dangerous secrets of your mind. Even the ones that hadn't already begun to unravel. Once you embrace your old memories and the power that you sealed away again, you should be able to return to your precious people."

For a while, there was only silence. As hard as it may seem to believe, I was more unsure of setting free my ancient past than I had ever been about anything. What would it really do to me? Would I be any different? Other than the few freak flashbacks that I used to get and the, what turned out to be very convenient, ability to read hieroglyphs, I had no clue what I was like back then.

I really wasn't that concerned that I was going to go back to being a royal asshole. What little I had been able to find and what Yami had already told me indicated that I was a good priest and, once my cousin was gone, fair and loved Pharaoh. The thing that really worried me was how these ancient memories, and the emotions that would go with them might affect how I felt about the people in my life now.

There was no doubt that Kisara was important to me, but I wasn't sure how important. Would the feelings that I had for her, whatever kind of bond it was, effect how I loved Jou? Would my feelings towards even Mokie change?

Eventually, I realized that worry would get me nowhere fast. The only way I would even be able to see the very people that I were thinking about would be to do what I was fretting over anyway. Sighing, I turned to Shadi, figuring that I may as well just get what I had to do over with and worry about the consequences when they presented themselves.

"What do I need to do?" I asked, hoping that it would all be over soon. I was already missing Mokie and my puppy. As if sensing this, Shadi gave me a small smile and led me to the furthest, darkest corner of the room. It was obvious when we reached our destination. There was a door, behind which I could sense something calling out to me, something deep inside of me responding. Whatever was behind it was powerful, to say the least.

"All you need to do is open this door. That will allow all of your past memories and the secrets of your magic to flow into your conscious mind." He looked to me, his eyes more intense than I had ever seen them. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," I replied, putting my hand to the door. At first, it seemed to reject me, but, somehow, I was able to get whatever was protecting to long hidden secrets locked behind it to back off. I could feel the magic that I used, but I wasn't sure what it was or how I did it. Finally, I opened the door and had to cover my eyes as the bright light that I had noticed earlier intensified. Felling as though a magnet were pulling me in, I step through the door way and collapsed as images from my past began to flood my mind.

The next time that I opened my eyes, all I could see was darkness. A quick glance out the window told me that it was night time.

"Great," I thought. "I've been out all day. Mokie is probably going out of his mind and I'll have to practically kill myself working to straighten out what ever the idiots working for me screwed up at the company. Wonderful."

Just as I was weighing the pros and cons of banging my head against the wall and contemplating the best way for punishing Marik for throwing my sennen rod, something moved in my arms. I looked down and smiled as I realized that it was my puppy.

It turned out that my earlier worries were for nothing. I was still content to just lay and hold him while I could. If anything, regaining the memories of my former life made me love him all the more. After all, the only time I was with anyone I an intimate way of any form was only to produce and heir. It was lonelier than anything that I could think of before then.

It almost saddened me when he began to stir. Knowing that the tranquil moment would soon be over, I buried my face into his lovely, soft hair. He let out one the most adorable little groans and his eyelids began to flutter open. I couldn't tell you how long we just lay there, but, too soon if you ask me, the puppy jumped and looked at me in a mix of astonishment and delight.

"You're awake!" he exclaimed happily throwing his arms around me. The chuckle that was building up in my throat died as I felt moisture rolling down my neck where my puppy buried his face. I automatically tightened my grip on him.

"Puppy? What's wrong?" I asked almost frantically. He pulled away just far enough to look me in the face and smiled, shaking his head.

"Nothing." His voice cracked slightly from the tears. "I'm just so happy that you're awake. I was so scared, Seto. I thought that you were going to die or something when you started convulsing in pain."

"It's going to take a whole hell of a lot more than some ancient Egyptian relic deciding that it wants me as its wielder and ripping apart the chains that I so carefully put in my mind so long ago to make me croak." I smiled and reached up, brushing his tears away. "You and Mokie are still stuck with me."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," he laughed, gently flicking me in the forehead. I chuckled along with him and neither of us spoke again until his tears stopped and his cheeks were dry again.

"How about you and I track down Marik so I can kick his ass and then go check up on Mokie and Noah?" He nodded vigorously, an enormous, immaculate smile damn near blinded me. "Well then, let's go."


	15. Chapter 15

Sadistic-neko: (cries looking at phone)

Bakura: What's with her?

Ryou: She's crying looking at her phone.

Bakura: I already know that, but why? (looks at Ryou who is giving him a "how the hell do you expect me to know?" stare)

Sadistic-neko: I got bored on the bus this morning so I decided to look at my e-mail on my phone. I was shocked to see that I had 13 messages and all of them where form . Most of them where such wonderful reviews saying that the person, BrowneyedSham, absolutely loved this story. She even stayed up late to read it!

Bakura: Really?

Sadistic-neko: She even dubbed herself my #1 fan! By the way, BrowneyedSham, if you're reading this right now, I would love it if you put that line I wrote on you're profile! And, no, Seto and Jou's relationship will not be S&M. Their wolf DNA won't allow it since, after all, they mate for life. Thank you soooooooooo much for reading and reviewing my story! You're kind words made it possible for me to write enough to update today!

Bakura: (sweat drops and looks to Ryou) Do you think that she's me going to stop any time soon?

Ryou: (shakes head)

Bakura: (sighs) I guess that I have to do the disclaimer then. (looks towards readers) Sadistic-neko does not own Yugioh and hopes that you enjoy this new chapter. Oh, and she would like to dedicate this chapter to BrowneyedSham in return for the nice reviews.

**Jou POV**

My eyes never left Seto as we left his room and ventured through the mansion in search of Marik. I had never seen him look so regal and majestic. An image of him in his past life as the high priest. That attire, or even the robes that he wore after Yami gave Egypt to him would of suited him better than the silk pajama pants that he was wearing. Not even his best suits would seem right on him.

Even the way he walked seemed different. It wasn't exactly the same as it was when I saw his past self when the rest of the gang and I went to the past, but more powerful. I figure that it had something to do with the new DNA.

As happy as I was to see him up and about after that horrifying display that morning, I was more scared than ever. If he had changed so much in even such little areas, would he still be the Seto I knew? Would we still have the strange friendship that we had only recently developed? At some point I stopped and I didn't even realize it until Seto stopped too and began questioning me.

"Are you okay?" I didn't know what to say. How does one go about saying that you're worried about someone is going to change into someone else to the very person anyway?

When I didn't answer, he walked up to me. Then, in the most tender show of affection that I had received form him, he patted my head and almost seemed to caress my cheek.

"You should know by now that you can talk to me about anything. If something is bothering let me know, okay?" I almost cried as he gave me the most heart breaking, beautiful smile that I had ever seen. If wasn't the pretty feminine kind of beauty, but more of a wonderful, comforting beauty that seems too radiant to be anything that mortals should be able to see. Finally, I cracked and threw myself at him, crying into his chest.

"I'm so worried that you changed," I sobbed/whimpered. "We just started getting along. I couldn't bare it if you didn't care anymore."

"Would I hold you or let you cry against me if I didn't care?" he asked, wrapping his arms around me and rubbed soothing circles into my back. I shook my head. He was the kind of person that wouldn't really give a damn if someone was crying if he didn't already care about them. "See? I'll admit that I have changed, but I still feel the same about you and Mokie. You are both more precious to me than anything else in this world."

It was then that he pulled away from me to wipe my tears away just as he did when we were in his room. I wasn't sure of what to make of his last comment. I was sharing the spot of most precious with Mokie? Was he talking about as a friend? I didn't know any more. I was so confused lately with everything concerning the brunet CEO.

"To tell the truth," he began again after a minute of two. "I was scared that I would change too."

"Really?" I could help but risk a glance up at him. I could nothing but sincerity in his eyes.

"Yeah. I was afraid that the bonds that I had formed in the past would interfere with how I feel about the people in my life now. Nothing's changed though, so you don't need to worry anymore."

I sighed in relief as he took my hand and began leading me down the hallways again. He was right when he said that he was still the same, I found out as we approached a certain door. My reassurance, and alarm, came in the form of an evil smirk that gracefully spread itself onto Seto's face. The evil businessman that he used to be and clung to parts of for safety's sake was the only person that could pull off a look like that. It was one of the scariest looks that could ever be aimed at you.

"Do I want to know?" I asked sheepishly. I could literally see the lights dimming as he let loose a _very_ quiet malicious chuckle.

"I found him." I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or to himself while in his own dark little world, but I figured that I shouldn't get in his way as he inched the door open and slipped in silently. It took all of my courage to just peek in. I still couldn't tell you if I was more horrified or more amused than I had ever been in my entire life.

The room was bright, from the open window, and that just made it all the easier to see what was going on. Seto was surrounded by pitch black shadows. His arms were crossed casually, the sennen rod held in his right hand as if he didn't really even notice it there. The funniest thing, though, was look on Marik's face. You would never think that a big, bad ass guy like him would look so utterly terrified.

"P-priest?" he practically squeaked. When his gaze flew to another part of the room, as if begging for help was when I first noticed that Malik was in there too. From the looks of things, the help the yami was waiting for was not forthcoming.

"Yes?" I had to admit that I was kind of worried for Marik's health as I watched Seto scan the room. It was obvious that he was trying to find something to use to punish Marik. It was clear when he found what he was looking for. The smile was so chilling that I had a flashback of Death-T when he was laughing while he let loose the freaking_ chainsaw murderer_ on me.

"I-I'm glad to see that you're awake." At least he was smart enough to try sucking up to the pissed off and, I thought, personally offended high priest. (Well, it was the damn sign of his power that was chucked at his head. You would be offended too!) Too bad that he didn't know how merciless Seto could be since he wasn't around when he was homicidal.

"Oh really?" That's when he made his move. The blonde yami didn't even know what hit him. All I could see was a sudden jump from the shadows surrounding the brunette and then the yami was gone.

I walked into the room and stood next to Malik, who was just standing there blinking. He had just about of much of an idea of where his boyfriend was as I did. All the both of us did until Yami showed up was look around the room wondering if maybe the bigger of the blonde Egyptians was sent to the shadow realm.

"Hey cousin!" Yami exclaimed. "It's good to see you awake. It looks like having the secrets of your magic locked away for a couple millennia didn't make you rusty at all."

"Did you really expect me to get rusty?" he asked, pulling me down onto the couch that he decided to lounge out on earlier. "Your pacing is getting _really_ annoying. If you want to know where the baka is, all you need to do is wait a minute or two. He should be up soon."

Just like always, he was right. A short wait later found us covering our ears as we heard yelling.

"Ow!" came the ridiculously loud voice that seemed to be placed suspiciously above our heads. "Damn you priest! Get me the hell down from here!"

We all looked up and burst out laughing. About ten feet above our heads was Marik, _dangling by his hair_, attached to the huge chandelier. Even Malik was rolling on the floor, gripping his sides with tears rolling down his face.

"Malik!" the hung up yami whined. "Even you? Jeeze. Way to make a guy feel loved!"

Apparently he was able to get hold of part of the chandelier and pulled himself up far enough to untangle his hair and jump down like the cat that he was. I couldn't help but wish that he wasn't so flexible and agile just so I could watch him like that for a little while longer.

"You have to admit that you deserved that," Malik said cheerfully, giving Marik a quick peck on the cheek. He sputtered a minute and then slunk out of the room. Even with how tan he was, we could clearly see his blush.

"I think it's time to check on my little brother." I almost jumped as Seto whispered into my ear. The only thing that kept me from doing so was the fact that he put arm around me and pulled me just about as close as he could get me against his chest.

Well, one thing I could say about the whole Seto remembering everything from his ancient past was that he, somehow, became more touchy. I was amazed at how affectionate he was. Not knowing what to make of it, I assumed that the memories just triggered something in his new DNA. After all, wolves are pack animals.

"Y-yeah." I didn't know why I stuttered, or why my face flushed. All I knew was that I kinda liked the change and, at that moment, I would've followed him anywhere just like the puppy he always called me.

Deciding not to risk looking like an idiot anymore than I already was, I just shut my mouth and followed the other wolf teen to where the two pups were waiting.

**Seto POV**

I wasn't completely sure what had gotten into me, but man was I loving it! Just the fact that my puppy wasn't pushing me away despite how forward I was being with him was amazing! He probably didn't fully understand that my playful behavior was actually flirting, but he was still responding to it.

The blush that was coloring his cheeks was too beautiful to put into words. Figuring that I may as well through some of my restraint to the wind, I grabbed his hand and began to lead him through the hallways to the room that Noah was resting in. happy and content were all I could feel as it became more and more apparent that my hand wasn't going to be shaken away. It even seemed like he was enjoying it too.

I smiled as I thought about earlier when he asked me if I was still the same person. The fact that he was worried that I would no longer find our friendship important sowed that I was very precious to him. Though, I was a little disappointed when he didn't quite get what I meant when I told him that he and Mokie were my two most precious people. Oh well, as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait.

Back to the point, my puppy and I finally got to our destination. One quick whiff told me that Mokie was in the room with the green haired pup. I could hear light snoring, and knowing that it wasn't just coming from Noah, I opened the door quietly.

"Now if that isn't the most adorable thing in the world then nothing is," I heard whispered in my ear. Not wanting to wake either pup up, I just nodded and, moving so silently that a ninja would look like a clown, tip-toed over to the closet.

Smiling to myself, I draped a blanket over my little brother, who was sleeping curled up next to Noah. They really were too adorable.

I'm assuming that Mokie, being one to need physical comfort, got up one the bed to be as close to the other as possible and fell asleep. Noah was getting his strength back already if the hand keeping a firm grip on Mokie's was any indication. I became more attentive as that grip tightened.

"S-Seto?" a weak voice quietly asked. Luckily it was too quiet to stir the other. "Is that you?"

My gaze drifted up to face the younger, or maybe older, boys blue gaze. It surprised me to find him awake already, but the bleary look his eyes held told me that he would be asleep again soon enough.

"Yeah," I responded, hoping that, if I spoke quietly and calmly enough, he would be lulled back to sleep sooner. "I'm here."

"I-I need to tell you something," he began, but I put hand on his forehead to show him that I didn't want him talk.

"You should rest some more." The poor kid looked horrible. Not as bad as he did the previous night, but still really bad.

Where my hand made contact with his skin, it was wet and clammy and he was paler than a ghost. He looked worse than a corpse.

"B-but…" He tried to sit up but I pushed on his chest lightly to make him lay again.

"Anything that you need to say can rest until you're better. After all, your body is recovering from being slowly degenerated by an illness." Again he tried to say something and I stopped him. "You don't want to wake Mokie, do you?"

As if noticing Mokie for the first time, his gaze snapped to the ravenette lying next to him, holding his hand. The internal debate he was going through of whether or not to continue was visible on his face. At last, he relented, snuggling into Mokie and closing his eyes again. After one sigh of a mixture of frustration and content, he was sleeping like a log.

Double checking that both pups were suitably covered by their blankets, I got up and left the room. Imagine my surprise when I ran saw my puppy standing just outside the room still, giggling.

"What?" I asked. What could possibly be so amusing?

"Nothing," he somehow managed to giggle out. "You just looked so cute in there."

"Oh really?" I asked mischievously. He stopped giggling and began looking at me suspiciously.

"Yeah." He drawled out the word, backing away from me. I gave him my best evil, nonthreatening smirk and held up my arms to try and grab him. "I mean, you looked like a freaking dotting alpha with his pups."

"Oh, I'll show you dotting alpha," I playfully growled and jumped at him. Letting him get away, I also gave him a short head start and ran down the hallway after him.

Doing just as I expected him to do, he ran to our room with me right at his heels. As soon as he got through the door, I pounced on him, knocking him onto our bed. Straddling his waist, I reached down and began tickling his sides.

As soon as I began administering my torture, he burst out laughing. He swung his arms at me and kicked his legs, but I refused to relent. I wouldn't stop until he cried uncle! Well, that or he turned purple due to lack of oxygen.

"S-Seto!" he cried out after a few minutes, barely able to speak through his laughter. "Y-you're mean!"

"Sure I am. You know how to make it stop! Just say you give!"

"N-never!" Figuring that he needed a little more persuasion, I increased the speed that my fingers were moving. "O-okay! I-I give!"

"Ha! I win!" I smiled as he muttered something about "victory obsessed ancient assholes" while he heaved, trying to get his breath back. "You love me anyway."

"Yeah," he said, his eyes dropping closed. "I do."

I could feel my eyes widening as these words reached my ears. Did he just, in a way, say that he loved me? I went to asked him about it, but I realized that he was asleep. He had said that in a state of being half-asleep.

"Well," I muttered to myself, snuggling in too. "I guess there's hope for us yet. At least there should be if you can admit something like that when other thoughts aren't getting in the way."

Pulling my puppy into my arms and nuzzling my nose into his wonderfully soft hair, I fell asleep too.

It seemed that I had just fallen asleep when Mokie ran in trying desperately to wake us up. At first I wasn't coherent enough to get what the hell he was talking about. When I was, I was out of bed in a heartbeat.

"Noah is up!" he yelled. "He's even moving around! He says that he needs to talk to you!"


	16. Chapter 16

Sadistic-neko: HI EVERYONE! Sorry that it took me so long to update. I just got back from a trip to D.C. to visit my grandparents.

Yugi: Did you have fun?

Sadistic-neko: YEAH! I made it there in time to see the cheery blossoms for the first time ever!

Bakura: You do realize that he just asked that to be nice right? None of us really care. We just want you to get to the damn chapter already!

Sadistic-neko: Do I need to lock in the room with build-a-whore again? She's still pissed off at you.

Bakura: (shivers) You said that they have a dog right? How is he? (sheepish smile) You're not really going to lock me in a room with her again, are you?

Sadistic-neko: Now that you're being a good boy, no, I won't. (hugs Bakura) I would love you even more and would be really happy if you would be so kind as to do the disclaimer for me. (give evil smile that promises death if disobeyed.)

Bakura: (gulps) S-sure, no problem. (turns to readers) Sadistic-neko does not own yugioh and she hopes that you enjoy her latest chapter. Please keep her happy and review!

"Where is he right now?" I asked, shaking my puppy to wake him up.

"He's eating in the dining room right now. We've both been awake for about an hour. I would have gotten you sooner, but he said that he wanted to take a shower and eat before he sat down to talk with you."

"Got, it. Puppy!" With that yell, Jou bolted up and looked around, trying to figure out where he was and what was going on. "Come on, Noah is up and wants to have a word with us."

"I'm up!" he said, leaping out of the bed and pulling me out the door.

"Where are the yamis and hikaris?" I asked when we were about half way to our destination.

"They went home last night. I found a note saying that they didn't want to wake anyone up on the fridge." Mokie was practically sprinting in front of us.

At last, we got to the dinning room. As Mokie said, Noah was sitting at the table, finishing up a bowl of cereal. His head snapped up as we walked through the door. Mokie and Jou were at his side in about the same amount of time that it took me to blink.

"Noah!" Jou exclaimed. "Are you sure that you should be up and about already?"

"I-I'm fine," he stuttered, taken back by Jou's outburst.

"You said that you wanted to talk to me, right?" I asked, entering at a much more leisurely pace, taking the seat at the head of the table, opposite his. "If so, then you should start talking."

"You're right," he began. Jou and Mokie took the seats on either of my sides. "First, I would like to apologize for what I did before. I should never have kidnapped you guys."

"There's no need for that," I said, holding up my hand as a sign for him to stop his rant. "We all forgive you."

"How can you though? What I did was so horrible!" He would have continues his self persecution if it weren't for the hysterical laughter coming form the blond sitting on my right.

"You think what you did was bad?" Tears began rolling down his cheeks and he was gripping his sides. "You should have been there when we first met Seto! What you did was like pocking us in the side compared to what he put us through!"

"I wish I could say that it isn't true, but I would be lying if I did," I sighed. "At least it wasn't as bad as Bakura."

"You're right, trying to kill a couple of people is nowhere near as bad as trying to destroy the entire planet. Compared to that what the pup did was more like leading us through a hall of teddy bears or something!" As my puppy's face began turning purple, I was starting to really worry. Finally, he took a breath and stabilized himself.

"One of your friends tried destroying the world?" Poor little Noah seemed appalled. "And, Seto, you tried killing some people?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." I shrugged. "Couldn't tell you why though."

"He was Satan," Jou giggled. "They both were. We forgave them, so we can forgive you too. Do you see now?"

We sat and watched him for a few moments, waiting to see what his reaction would be. If he was anything like Bakura and me, he would go through a stage of disbelief. He wouldn't be able to understand how we could ever forgive what he did. Once he got through that, he would probably devote himself to trying to make up for it and become our friend. It still amazed me how a little kid like Yugi could, literally, make all of his enemies his friends.

"Am I really forgiven? I mean by your entire group." We nodded. "Well then, since that's done with, I guess that I should get to the most important part. I know who kidnapped you and did those experiments on you."

As he said this, Jou grabbed my arm as if for the comfort of knowing I was there. Both he and Mokie palled considerably and I ended up clenching my fists so tightly in my rage that I cut my palms with my claws. I could feel the shadows gathering around me, wrapping themselves around my body in their own kind of dark caress.

"Really now," growled out from between my tightly clenched teeth.

"W-what is that?" The green haired pup's voice was nothing more than a terrified squeak. I knew that I was scaring him, but I just couldn't reign in the murderous intent just rippling off of me. I was able to calm down only after my puppy tightened his grip on my arm.

"He can't tell us if you accidentally zap him with your shadow magic, you know," my puppy berated me. "Let him finish talking and then you can go out on a rampage and send whoever the jerk is to the shadow realm, okay?"

The only response I was able to give him was a curt nod and a couple of deep breaths to get my temper in check. Once I was calm enough, I sent the shadows back to whatever corner they crawled out of and grabbed some handkerchiefs to wrap my hands in.

"I apologize for making you see that," I said to the newest pup since Jou and Mokie were used to displays of shadow magic like that. "I'll try harder to keep myself composed, so please continue."

"O-okay," he said, clearly still a bit shaken. "I found this out when I was going through computers, trying to find the one in the lab that still had my body when I came across one that seemed to be connected to a private lab centered around something concerning the human body. I figured that it was promising so I went in it. I was horrified to find documents detailing the plans to kidnap you all and the experiments that were done on you. I was happy to find out that you guys escaped, though, from what the scientist wrote, I figured that none of you got a good look at him. Knowing that I had to do something to help, I began my search for my body more frantically than ever. I finally found it and after that, you know the rest."

We all sat in silence, awing at what the pup had to go through. I couldn't help but admire his bravery. After a while, though, I had to break the silence. After all, one critical question had yet to be answered.

"Who did this to us?"

"He's a foreign scientist, studying the vast field of DNA. His name is Dr. Carl McNell." The name wasn't one that I was unfamiliar with. He was slowing gaining tons of recognition in the scientific community.

"Was there anything on why he went after us?"

"Something about trying to harness some strange kind of energy and finding out how foreign DNA reacted with it." Noah nearly jumped out of his seat as I let out another growl.

"So, basically that asshole decided to kidnap us and do gods know what to us just because he so happened to somehow found out about our shadow magic?" I was trying as damn hard as I could to keep my temper in check, but it turned out to be the hardest thing that I ever did. My head felt like it was about to explode with the effort. Just when I thought that I was about to blow, I felt a tug on my shirt.

"Seto?" my puppy asked timidly. "Are you okay?"

My rage began to slowly subside as I gazed at him. His eyes were wide with concern and one of his hands was resting against my chest as he stared at me. It was impossible to stay angry while looking at that adorable sight and the hand he had on my chest was _very_ distracting. No longer enraged, I felt mentally exhausted.

"Yeah, I'm okay now." I let my head fall onto his shoulder and allowed his intoxicating scent to relax me. "We have school today, so we should get ready. Mokie, you can stay home with Noah. I'll have Rai stay here and watch over you two."

"Alright!" I could here their hands come in contact as they gave each other high fives.

**Jou POV**

I couldn't help but worry as Seto and I made our way to school. He was really tense and hadn't spoken a word since we left the house. As much as I wanted to help, though, I couldn't think of anything that I could do.

Glancing over at him for the twentieth time that minute, I the smell of blood hit my nose. His blood.

Freaking out, I gave him a once over, trying desperately to place its source. I relaxed only slightly when I found that little drops of blood were dripping down his fists. Knowing that he wasn't really paying attention to anything right now, I gingerly placed my hand on his. He jumped slightly and his distracted gaze snapped to focus on me.

"Is something wrong, puppy?" he asked. I held his hand up to show him.

"I just thought that you might want to know that your claws are, probably, getting close to really getting to know the bones in your hand." I made myself sound as nonchalant as possible, but I bet that he could hear the slight waver my voice held. I looked away, becoming a little uneasy both seeing and smelling him bleed like that. I could smell when he recovered his hands, and nearly jumped out of my skin when he, out of nowhere, wrapped his arm around my waist.

"I'm sorry that I worried you, puppy," he said and nuzzled his nose into my hair. I blushed as his hand deemed it necessary to claim residence on my hip. Despite how uncomfortable you might think it was to walk like that, it really wasn't. In fact, I had almost never been more comfortable. The only time that I could was when we went to sleep at night, his arms wrapped around me.

Seto had removed his nose from my hair, but kept his hand where it was. In all honesty, I didn't think that I would have let him move it even if he wanted to. Without thinking, I somehow ended up inching closer and closer to him until I tucked protectively against his side. To my great relief, it seemed that he was just as content as I was just walk glued to each other and he had finally relaxed.

I was surprised to find us entering the school after what seemed like a really short time. Following our normal routine, we began to immediately head towards the bathroom to rid Seto of his disguise. I was sad when he had to move his hand to take out his green contacts. I watched as he moved almost robotically and was caught, yet again, in his beautiful sapphire gaze. His eyes were, without a doubt, the most wonderful that existed.

"We better get to class," he said, breaking me out of my delirious state. I nodded and smiled as he pulled me close again. The odd stares that we were getting meant nothing to us. When I felt an irresistible urge to snuggle even closer to him, I didn't even bother to try and resist.

As we walked to class, we got a lot of stares, but we didn't care. I couldn't really blame them, since, only a couple short months earlier, we couldn't stand to be any where near each other. When we got to class, Seto automatically steered us towards our friends.

"Yami!" he called out on our way. As soon as we got all of the yamis' attention, he continued. "We all need to talk as soon as possible. In private."

"Is something the matter?" the former Pharaoh asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Noah found out who kidnapped us." I could feel Seto's hold on me tighten as he spoke. His words were spoken barely above a whisper, but it had drastic effects on the others. The hikaris looked horrified and the yamis, just as Seto had done with me, held their loves closer as if to protect them.

"It would seem that you're right. We all _do_ need to talk. This conversation will be continued during lunch in our normal place." Again, it was made obvious why Yami was our alpha. There was no questioning his command. Instead of pressing the subject, as I'm sure Bakura and Marik wanted to do, we all just sat in our seats and wait as all of the agonizingly slow hours passed by.


	17. Chapter 17

Sadistic-neko: Damn it Jou! Get the hell off of me! Seto! Help! Your boyfriend is suffocating me!

Seto: (pulls Jou off of author) Puppy? What was that about?

Jou: She (sniff) she finally… (bursts into happy tears, hugging Seto with everything he's worth)

Seto: (looks toward author) Care to explain to me what he's going on about?

Sadistic-neko: You'll just have to find out. (ignores Seto's glare) Anyway, I would like to thank browneyedshammer again for helping me. I'm really happy that I was able to involve my number one fan in my story writing. I went with what you said and I hope you like it. Now remember, I don't own Yugioh! But all insanity that takes place in this story is totally mine!

At long last, the bell for our lunch period rang. We all jumped out of seats and flew out the door. All of the yamis and Seto practically threw the hikaris and me over their shoulders as they charged to the sakura tree that we ate under. As we stopped, Yami growled, displaying his dominance and began giving out orders.

"Bakura! Marik! Take guard! Don't let anyone near us. Hikaris, sit close to the tree. Seto, Jou, tell me everything that Noah told you. Leave nothing out."

"We wouldn't dream of it. We want the asshole dead just as much as you do." A shiver went down my spine as his cold words reached my ears. He hadn't scared me that much since Death-T. "His name is Carl McNell. He studies DNA, obviously. He's been growing in fame recently, and I know for a fact that I will be able to find where he lives. Since we didn't actually see him, he must think that he's safe. I just figured that you and the other would want to be there when it's time to kick ass."

"Hell yeah!" he exclaimed. "Of course we do! We owe him too and we're dying to pay him back!"

Seeing how upset his yami was getting, Yugi went over to him and sat in his lap, nuzzling the bigger one's chest. After a moment, the darker half finally calmed down and called to the others.

"Marik! You can come back now. Bakura, since today is your turn on guard duty get up that tree. We'll start planning our revenge after school." The other two yamis nodded and went where they were supposed to be.

About half way through lunch, any passerby would never have thought that it wasn't a normal day. Ryou was sitting under the sakura tree, enjoying the breeze. All of the yamis, except Bakura, held their lighter halves. The only one that the relaxed atmosphere didn't seem to effect was Seto.

He seemed tense. The shadows closest to him waver, as if just itching to rather wrap around him as they had earlier that morning or to do his bidding. Even though the yamis didn't look too concerned that he was going to lose it and make those shadows do anything, since they would gotten heir hikaris the hell away from him if it seemed likely, I was still worried. Ever since the day before, he seemed a lot more emotional. Deciding that I was too damn worried to just leave it be, I got up and plopped down next to him.

"Is something wrong, Seto?" Instead of answering me, he just fell back, his head landing in my lap. I was surprised, to say the least. He had held me, we had slept in the same bed and he had even comforted me and dried my tears when I was upset, but, even considering all those things, the simple act of him resting his head on my lap, seemed so intimate.

"It's just too much shit happening too close together." He sounded so tired. Almost like a haggard old man. "Being kidnapped, finding out about the damn animal DNA the sick bastard put in us, catching up on work, that meeting with your father, Noah coming back, getting my shadow powers and ancient memories back and now this. If this ends any time soon I'll be one happy ass priest."

"Here I thought that the big bad alpha wolf could handle everything," I giggled, trying to lighten his mood. Then, out of impulse, I began running my fingers through his hair.

"Even the most bad ass alpha can suffer from too much stress and exhaustion." He gave a small, pleasured growl and snuggled even further into my thighs. I blushed, but continued my ministrations, happy that it seemed to help him. "That feels real nice."

It felt nice to just sit there at peace. As nice as it was, though, my emotions were running rampant. As much as I had been trying not to think about the way my heart was beginning to flutter around the powerful alpha. He was just too perfect in so many ways. Kind, handsome and brave, there were no faults to be found.

I would admit that, when we first met him, he couldn't have been more of a total bastard if he tried. His major turn around, courtesy of Yami and the mind crush, made such a difference. Now, he was a great elder brother, and an amazing friend, but why did my heart hurt so much when I thought of him like that. Or the times I realized the huge difference between us.

So many questions ran through my head. What's happening to me? Why am I feeling these things? Most importantly, What are these feelings?

In a daze, I lifted the hand that I wasn't still running through Seto's hair and lifted it to my chest. My heart was pounding away with my thoughts of him. Lately it felt so light. It was almost like I had never gone through all of the shit that used to weigh it down not even three months earlier.

As I thought, it became clearer and clearer that, somehow, the two Kaiba brothers had become my reason for living. They made me feel at home. They were the only family that I felt like I needed. Well, Shizuka was missing, but she was the only thing that was. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that I loved them.

That word made heart stop and flutter back into commission._ Love_. I had known for the last few weeks that I loved them. Mokie was like my own little brother, and Noah was too. Seto, though, I couldn't figure out. He was _definitely_ not a brother to me, but he wasn't _exactly _a friend. If anything, it seemed like he was closer.

All I could think about was how scared I was when I thought that he would stop caring about me when he got his ancient memories back. I had never been as terrified as I was when I saw him writhing in the bed either. What made me so desperate? Before I could figure it out, I was pulled out my thoughts by squealing hikaris.

"Kawaii!" all three of the squealed in voices so high pitched that I think the dogs across the streets were cringing. (the yamis and I were at least.) Yes, even _Malik_ squealed like a little girl. I was taking a shot in the dark and guessed that the absolute cutest thing in the world was occurring I was missing it because I was thinking too much. I wasn't just going to sit back while that was happening! I would be damned if I missed something so cute!

"What?" I asked, dying to know. I heard a soft, disgruntled sound and felt shifting in my lap. I looked down and found it. The adorable thing that the hikaris were squealing at was Seto. Sometime while I was lost in my thoughts, he had fallen asleep.

Now, if his falling asleep in my lap wasn't cute enough, apparently he was upset that I had stopped running my hand through his hair. That is, if the little disgruntled sound that he let out earlier and the small furrow his brow held were any indication. To make up for abandoning my silently given task, I started up again. He let out a content sigh and shifted until he was nuzzling into my stomach, his arm snaking around me.

I heard the hikaris giggle and when I looked up, Yami had this weird expression. He seemed happy, as if he were finally seeing something that he had been waiting _forever_ for. When he gave me a small smile, it seemed almost… grateful. I couldn't understand what he would be so grateful to me about, but I didn't really pry. If I had learned one thing from being around him so much, his mind was not, necessarily, a nice place to be and, more often than not, you were better off not knowing what he was thinking.

The perfect, and ever so rare with the two psychotic yamis around, and peaceful moment was ruined by the bell. Knowing that I had to wake up the sleeping priest using my legs as a pillow and hating that it was necessary, I began to lightly shake his shoulder. It took a moment, but he finally rejoined us in the land of the living.

"What's going on?" he asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Lunch is over, the bell rang. I thought that you might want get to our next class. If you're too tired though, and want to go home, I'll understand. After all, you did fall asleep." He nodded in response, giving me a, tender (was that the right word?) look.

"I'll be fine. We have gym next and that should wake me up." He paused, taking a minute to get up and offered me a hand to help me do likewise. Which I happily accepted considering my legs had fallen asleep. We began to venture out to the school's gymnasium. "Sorry about falling asleep like that. I guess that I was more stressed and tired than I thought."

"I don't mind," I said, keeping the fact that I actually kind of liked it to myself. "You deserved a nap. Its fine was long as you feel better now."

I eeped as he grabbed me and pulled me against his chest, right outside the locker room door. He nuzzled his nose into my hair, taking a deep whiff, and, once satisfied with the amount of my scent taken in leaned down and spoke in my ear.

"I feel much better, thank you." His breath seemed to caress my ear and sent a shiver down my back. It took everything I had not to whimper in loss when he let go of me and took my hand, leading me into the room in front of us. "We better get going. Wouldn't want to hear the teacher yell more than normally does would we?

We were now outside again, the entire class getting into groups to walk the track. The yamis and Seto had somehow separated from the hikaris and me. I guessed that it was for the best though, considering that they were, probably going over all of the ways that they could torture the bastard that kidnapped us, and I _really_ needed a good _private_ conversation with their lights. As happy as I was that they were all happy together with their respective partners, but damn did I miss being able to talk to them without worry about the yamis hearing it and trying to blackmail me later.

"Hey, guys," I began nervously. "I need some help with something."

They all turned towards me, their curiosity obviously peaked. Then they noticed the extremely upset expression that I wore and crowed around me. We looked like a bunch of girls, but we didn't really care. This conversation was one that needed to be spoken softly, and our hunched together group ensured that all would be heard among us, but nothing would breach our self-made wall.

"What's wrong?" Yugi asked, gently trying to pry it out of me.

"I'm not really sure." They all looked at me, waiting for me to continue. I was amazed that Malik was being so patient. "I've been so confused lately and I need to get it out. I figured that you guys would be able to help."

"What is it? Guy trouble?" Ryou asked, hitting the nail on the damn head. It kind of scared me how he did that. The others and I swore that he was freaking _psychic_ or something.

"I hate it when you figure things out like that," I sighed. "Yeah, it's about a guy."

"Who?" Malik asked, looking every bit like a girl about to get some juicy rumor material.

"Seto." They didn't look too surprised. Apparently it was obvious that I was, attracted to him, I guess. "Lately, I don't know what to think around him. He used to be a total asshole, but now he's so nice. I've been so confused. I thought that I hated him, but, now, I can't be around him without my heart aching. I've never been happier than the time that I've spent him and Mokie. Ever since he got his shadow magic back, he's been really touchy and clingy. Today's little nap that he took is just one of the things, but I can't find it myself to hate it. What do you guys think?"

They all took a second to consider what I told them. Then, they all smiled, though Malik's kind of scared me, and Yugi hugged me. Ryou and Malik patted me on the back.

"This is great Jou!" the little lion exclaimed. "You're in love! I was so worried about you being lonely since you and Seto were the only two without boyfriends!"

"Love?" I asked in deep thought. Was that it? Was I in love with the bigger wolf that had been so kind to me lately? I knew that I loved him, but was it really that kind of love?

All I could really think about was him. Images of the wonderful, soft smiles that he only ever gave Mokie and me, and the bright full laughs that I absolutely loved. I could almost feel his strong arms around me; hear him whispering in my ear, telling me that everything was going to be alright. Being in his arms was the safest place that I thought that I could possibly be. I had even warmed up to him calling me puppy!

"Jou? Are you alright?" the smaller of the group's two tigers asked. All I could do was nod and hug all three of them.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks you guys, you're the best."

"It's no problem, but you absolutely have to tell us everything after you finally confess to him, got it?" I wanted to glare at the panther, but I was too happy to.

"I'll think about it." Before they could argue about, the teacher called us all in. I ran into the locker room, trying to figure out how to let Seto know.

I didn't know what to do though. Would he love me too? Why would he? He was so perfect! I mean, he was the number one, most sought after bachelor in the country, possibly the entire damn world! What chances in hell did I really have?

**Seto POV**

The rest of school passed by fairly quickly, and, once it was over, everyone headed to the mansion to talk about how we were going to get our revenge on the good doctor. Well, more like we were informing the hikaris about the decision that the yamis and I made during gym.

We decided that we would go to his house, Bakura breaking in since he could do so without leaving any evidence behind, and use shadow magic for the rest. We were planning on doing it the night after graduation, which was in the following week. The hikaris and Jou, on the other hand, would stay at the mansion. After some heated retaliation from the, normally, timid hikaris, we finally got them to agree.

At last, Jou and I were laying in our bed. I could tell that he was unhappy with me, but something seemed different. I noticed the change right after gym. He had been in deep thought ever since and I was starting to get really worried about him. As worried as I was, there was a part of me that was happy and… hopeful?

"What's wrong puppy?" I asked, pulling him against my chest. Instead of letting me hold him though, he pulled away and glared at me.

"What's wrong?!" he practically screamed. "You and the yamis are going to the crazy bastard's place and you're going to leave me here! I'm one of the best fighters in the group! You could use me there!"  
"That's why we need you here," I sighed, forcing him onto my lap. "If anything happens here and were with us, Rai will be the only protection the hikaris and the pups would have. Unlike you, they can't fight very well and they don't have shadow magic like the yamis and I do. As good of a bodyguard Rai is, he can't fight an enemy and protect five other people at once. Do you understand? None of us would be able to bare it if any of you get hurt, that's the only reason that we've asked you all to stay."

"Fine. I'll stay, but I will be really pissed if you guys come home hurt. Just make sure that you do something really nasty to him for me." I nodded, wrapping my arms more securely around him. He snuggled into my chest and I rested my chin on his head, rubbing his back to try and alleviate some of the tension I could feel coming from him. After a moment, he was practically goo resting in my lap. It had been so relaxed and quiet that I almost jumped in surprise when he spoke. "Why have you been so nice to me lately? A couple of months ago, you couldn't stand me."

"I was an idiot then. You and Mokie are the most precious people in the world to me, and I could never hate either one of you. Even back then, I don't think that it was hate that I felt towards you."

"What do you mean by me being one of your most precious people?" he asked, his face down, his bangs hiding his face and eyes from me. "Do you mean as a brother like Mokie? A friend? What am I to you?"

For a minute, all I could do was sit there staring at him. Was he ready to hear what I truly felt? Was it _really_ even possible for the beautiful creature sitting in my lap to love me too? Figuring that then was as good of time as any, that if he wasn't ready by then, he would never be and we weren't meant to be, I made my decision.

"You're none of those to me. You aren't a brother, and you're to important to me to just be a friend. I love you more than anything." Finally having said that to him seemed bittersweet. I had _finally_ told him how I felt, but I still didn't know his feelings. Since I wasn't sure what was going to happen, I held him tighter and buried my nose in his wonderfully soft hair, hoping that it wouldn't be the last time.

"What's there to love about me? I'm just some idiot that's grown up doing nothing but stupid things. I've been in a gang, my grades are horrible and I know more about duel monsters than anything that's going on around me."

"Never say that," I growled, pulling him away from me just far enough to look him in the eye. "I'll admit that joining that gang was a stupid thing for you to do, but, since your father was the he was, I honestly believe that you did what you had to. You lived in a horrible area after all. You also don't give yourself enough credit. You're beautiful and so loyal that it's admirable. As for your grades, they've gotten better, remember. Hell, you're the most wonderful person that I know!"

"Really?" he asked, tears forming in his eyes.

"Yes," I replied, wiping his tears away.

"How long have you loved me?"

"I don't really know. Possibly from when I first met you, maybe some time after, but I never hated you. I realized how I felt when this happened to us. To be honest, I can't wait to get to the bastard that dared to touch my puppy." I smiled as he laughed. "What? You know you love being my puppy."

"Yeah, I do. You better be happy that I love you. Otherwise I would totally cut your balls off for calling me that." I chuckled. Even though it was a threat, it was directed to someone else. It only helped to assure me that he was mine and mine alone, I was the only person that could get away with my little pet name.

"I feel sorry for anyone that would try. After all, if you don't get them, I would. I am ridiculously possessive. I thought that you might what a little heads up."

"Yeah, thanks for the warning," he giggled. "You should know that I am too."

"That's fine. Now, why don't we sleep? It's getting late." I kissed him on the forehead and pulled him down to lie next to me. After getting comfortable, it didn't take too long for me to hear light snoring coming from the beautiful creature that was tucked as close to me as possible. Smiling, I finally allowed myself to drift off, happier than I had ever been. I couldn't wait to tell Mokie in the morning. He was going to freak.

Seto: Finally! (lets go of Jou and watches as he crushes author in a bear hug)


	18. Chapter 18

Sadistic-neko: (holds up shield, peeks out from behind it and hides again as a vase is chucked at her) I said I was sorry! I can't help it that school got in the way of me updating! What do expect with that concert I had to play in and finals coming up?

yamis: (glares at her, too angry to express anything with words and grabs nearest projectiles)

Sadistic-neko: I don't own yugioh! (Dodges a knife) Bakura! What have I told you about chucking sharp objects at people? Eep (ducks another knife) Here's hoping that you enjoy this new chapter and that I'm alive still when you're done reading this!

**Jou POV**

I awoke feeling more content and refreshed than I could ever remember feeling. As I lay in bed with my eyes still closed, a smile was playing with my expression. It was unavoidable since all I could think of was the night before. It was unbelievable that _the Seto Kaiba_, the first guy that I could ever remember actually falling in love with, loved me back!

My smile began to slip away as I noticed something. The warm arms that I had become accustomed to being wrapped around me when I woke up every morning were missing. Worried, I bolted upright, and looked around. The very person that I was thinking about was nowhere to be found. My alarm only grew as I heard something in the kitchen.

As quietly as I could, I crept out of the room and down the stairs and halls. Just outside the kitchen door, I paused, taking a quick sniff to see if I knew the scent. What I found surprised the hell out of me.

I _most definitely _knew the scent of the person that was in there. It was Seto. Now, that wasn't exactly what surprised me so much, it was the other smells that I caught.

I nearly found myself salivating as the delicious smells of bacon, cured ham, eggs and toast met my nostrils. I stumbled in, the trance the wonderful smelling foods put me into pulling me in. Before I even knew it, I was pressed against Seto, who was, amazingly enough, the mastermind with the frying pan and spatula, looking over his shoulder, staring at the food in awe.

"See something you like?" he chuckled, scraping the eggs onto a plate.

"Maybe," I said, trying to steal some bacon only to have my hand slapped away. I gave him my puppy eyes and pouted at him. "Meany."

"You can wait until the pups get down. They'll only be another minute or two." He pulled me to his chest and gave me a quick peck on the lips when I tried to steal that slice of bacon again. Needless to say, he accomplished his goal of distracting me perfectly.

"Since when do you cook," I asked, staring up at him dreamily. He smiled at me, pulling me into his lap as he sat at the table.

"Mom and dad were big on cooking and taught me a little before they died. I actually like to cook, I'm just never awake in time to make breakfast." As he spoke, he pulled me closer, resting his hand on my hip, and nuzzled his nose into my neck. He had done that so many times before, but it was just all the more special now that I knew the amount of affection that was really behind it.

"What makes today so different?"

"Today is special. I always make it a point to not only get up and make breakfast but also call in sick for Mokie and me." He looked kind of solemn as he spoke.

"What's today?" I asked. Something big had to be that day if he took it off every year.

"The anniversary of my and Mokie's parents' deaths." I stared at him shock. Then it all made sense. It annoyed the hell out of me though, because he put on that damn mask again. Knowing that it had to be tearing him up, I hugged him as fiercely as I could.

"I'll stay home today too."

"You don't have to." Despite the fact that he was trying to talk me out of staying with him, I could tell that he was happy that I wanted to stay.

"I want to." I said firmly, pulling away from him and grabbing his hand. "You and Mokie shouldn't have to go through this alone. I can even bet that Noah will be with me on this one too."

"Be with you on what?" we heard from the kitchen door. We both turned to find the very green haired pup that we were talking about standing there, a half conscious Mokie leaning against his shoulder.

"Today is the anniversary of their parents' deaths and I'm telling him that I'm staying even if he tells me to go to school." I could see Mokie tense as he seemed to realize the date. "Don't you agree that there's no way that we can leave them alone today?"

He looked as shocked as I did. Seto and I eyed him carefully as he put his arm around Mokie and hugged him as he led him to the table. It looked like I wasn't the only new person in the house with feelings for one of the brothers.

"You're right," he said, looking me right in the eye before looking at the others. "We can't leave them alone today."

"Okay," Seto said, giving us a warm, grateful smile. "You win. You guys can come with us."

"Well then!" I exclaimed, leaping out of Seto's lap and dove for the food that was still on the table. "Let's chow down and get ready to leave!"

"Agreed." The smile had yet to leave his face and, as I was about to sit in the seat next him, he pulled me back into his lap. I was comfortable enough and there was no way in hell that I could be too upset with food in front of me. About halfway through, I looked up to find two pairs of eyes staring at Seto and me. One looked confused and the other looked hopeful and awed.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

"Depends," Mokie began carefully. "Is there something that you and nii-san have been meaning to tell us?"

"Hm?" I put my hand up to my mouth in a contemplative manner and looked up at the eldest of the brothers. "Would you say that we've forgotten to tell them anything?"

"Well," he said in the same contemplative tone I did. "The only thing that I think of is that I finally confessed to you like he's been pestering me to do since before I even realized I had feelings for you."

"What!" Seto and I both fell out of our chair as the delighted squeal rang through the air. We were still on the ground groaning in pain when the ravenette began hugging us. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! I can't believe it!"

"Mokie," Seto ground out through teeth clenched in our agony. "Sensitive ears, remember?"

"Oops, sorry." Seto help me drag myself up and we both had to lean against the table until our heads stopped spinning. "I'm just so happy."

Luckily enough, the rest of breakfast went by without too much of a hitch. Now the hard part was coming steadily. Telling the others that I wasn't going to be at school and letting the hikaris know that Seto and I were now together.

As Seto and the others were getting changed, I went to the phone. At first, I just stared at it, going over my three options. I knew that Yugi would practically scream into the phone and I didn't really want to have the headache that I had just gotten over to come back full force. Malik on the other hand, would tease me to no end. Having made my decision, I grabbed the phone and dialed Ryou's number.

"Hello?" Bakura's voice rang on the other end. You can't imagine how grateful we all were that the yamis were able to figure out how to use modern appliances.

"Hey, it's Jou, can I speak to Ryou?"

"Yeah," he replied, and then called out for his hikari.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ryou, I was wondering if you could tell the others that Seto and I won't be at school." Out of all of the hikaris, Ryou was definitely the one that would be the most understanding and wouldn't ask too many questions.

"Sure. Do you want me to tell them anything specific?" I could hear that he was kind of worried, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions or pry.

"It's just that the brothers are having a kind of sensitive family day and Noah and I are staying with them today."

"Okay." There was a pause on the other end. "Have you told him yet?"

"Yeah," I said with an elated smile. "It went great! He feels the same way and Mokie was so excited that he almost made our heads explode with how high his squeals were."

"That's great!" he gave only the most appropriate amount of cheering. "I bet that you want to tell the others yourself though, right?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"It's no problem." With that, we hung up and I went to the room I shared with Seto and got ready as fast as I could.

A few hours later found the four of us in one of Seto's cars driving through the outskirts of town. I had absolutely no idea where we were going, but, one thing I did know, was that the journey there was on one of the most beautiful roads I had ever seen. It was lined with wild flowers and trees that bent in just a way to give it a fairytale like feel.

"Where are we going?" I asked, totally mystified.

"You'll see." He had the happiest, emotion filled smile that I had ever seen on him. It was hard to remember when he just looked evil and aloof all of the time. Even when he was at work now, I could still see how much more relaxed he was. It took a good eye to find it, but it was still there.

I didn't have to wait too much longer before an old, quaint building came into sight. The paint was old and fading and the play ground in the back yard had seen better days. It was two stories and looked like a Victorian styled mansion. All in all, it looked like you stereotypical… orphanage.

"Seto," I began. "This place, is it…?" I was incapable of finishing my sentence.

"Yeah. It's the orphanage that Mokie and I lived in before Gozaboro adopted us." I would have said more, but he looked so melancholy. Just as I was about to ask if he was okay, he smiled at me and threw his gaze to the pups in the back seat. "You guys ready to go in?"

"Well, nii-san, the real question is, are you and Jou ready to be jumped by a bunch of little kids?" Hearing this, Seto just let out a full hearted laugh and ushered us all out. I honestly could no longer tell which one of the two was the older brother. It was almost as if he had reverted back to his child hood. What was really astounding, though, was that it seemed to increase the closer we got to the building, making our way to the kitchen.

Seto began grinning like a little kid about to pull a prank as a woman's back came into view. He slowly and silently crept up behind her and, just as he was about to jump her she wacked him in the head with a spatula, not even tearing her gaze from the food she was making once. Mokie, Noah and I all ended up rolling on the floor after seeing his flabbergasted (What a funny word) expression we were laughing so hard.

"If I've told all of you once, I've told you a hundred times, I've been around you all long enough to know when you're trying to sneak up on me." Her voice was kind, yet stern, and, though she was reprimanding him, I could still hear the amusement she felt.

"Figures," Seto grumbled, rubbing his head and pouting. She tensed as she recognized the voice. "I finally get rid of the stick that was shoved up my butt like you've been nagging me to do for years now and I get whacked for it."

"S-Seto?" the woman stuttered in the most amazed voice I ever heard as she whirled to face us. She was, at least, in her late fifties, but didn't look old. Her black hair was graying and gave her a refined look. The chocolaty eyes staring at him were compassionate. "Is that really you?"

"Yes, ma'am." She dropped her spatula and pounced him, placing her hand on his forehead.

"Are you feeling okay?" He nodded, chuckling. "Have you hit your head lately?"

"I can assure you that I am perfectly fine," he replied with a teeth showing smile and putting his hand over hers to remove it gently. "If anything, I'm better than I've ever been."

"What happened to your teeth and nails Seto?" she asked, looking ready to smack him upside his head if it was something stupid. Seto's smile went away and he pulled her closer.

"I would rather tell you that when the other kids won't hear it." She nodded and he pulled away, heading towards the door and opening it. About five eight year olds ended up face planting the floor. "Well guys, I brought a special present for you this time." He threw and evil smirk my way. "Everybody, meet Jounochi Katsuya."

Before I could even blink, I was being dog piled by some of my, apparently, adoring fans. I was _so_ going to kill the brunette CEO that was slinking away with his former guardian when we got home.

**Seto POV**

I could feel Jou contemplating the best way to kill me later on, but I ignored it. The woman in front of me was my real problem. She was the closest thing that Mokie and I had to a mother since our parents died, and she wanted answers. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that she thought that I did something idiotic like having my teeth filed or something.

After scaling and avoiding various toys we made it to her office. It was the one place that the children would never dare entering if the door was closed. As soon as we entered, she went to her desk and motioned for me to sit in the chair resting in front of it. It took everything that I had not to shrink back as she glared at me. I felt like a five year old that just got caught with his hand in a cookie jar.

"Talk. Now."

"I was kidnapped and the person that did it did something to me." I spoke in a rush, hoping that it would help appease her. "I swear that the fangs and claws are _completely_ natural."

She just stared at me, looking for any deceit. Once satisfied, she nodded and smiled.

"So Seto-chan, what finally got you to listen to me and get the stick out of your bum?" I chuckled. Only she could go from planning my, sure to be, very painful death one second to teasing me the next.

"My puppy." I chuckled some more as she just looked at me confused as hell. "The cute little blonde one I brought with me."

I leaned back in my seat, just enjoying her shocked, mindless drabbling. It wasn't very often that anyone could pull something over her eyes. It was obvious that she recognized him and knew our history, then again, with the amount of publicity we both got from the dueling world, who wouldn't?

"You mean to tell me that you are in love with a guy that you have hated and has been your greatest for the past few years?" I nodded, knowing that she was going to demand that I tell her everything and that, once she was sure that both of our intensions were good and that we really cared for each other, she would accept our relationship and give us her blessings. That was just the way she was. I was like a son to her, as all of the children in the orphanage were. No matter how old I got, I would always be the little kid that was put under her care all of those years ago and she would always only wish for my happiness. "How did that happen?"

"I'm not sure myself. You see, he got kidnapped to along with my cousin and a few of our friends. When I saw him chained up like he was, I just knew. As cliché as it sounds, it was like I saw the light. I realized that I loved him and that I just had to get him out and do whatever I could to keep him safe." Everything was silent for a moment as see digested all that I told her. Finally, she smiled and got up to give me a hug. If she were anyone else, I would have moved away.

"You don't know how happy this makes me," she said, whipping a tear away as she let go of me. "So, what's he like?"

"As you probably noticed when you saw him, he's beautiful. Like me, he has a younger sibling, his sister, Shizuka, and he absolutely adores her. In fact, the reason he even entered Duelist Kingdom, the first tournament that he ever did well in, was to get the prize money so he could pay for his sister's eye operation. He's the reason that she can see now. He treats Mokie as his own little brother and is so humble. I just about went through hell and back to get him to let me buy him some clothes, all because he felt bad that he wouldn't be able to pay me back." I leaned back in my chair, a content smile on my face.

"What's the catch? He can't be as perfect as you make him out to be. I can tell that something's happened to him. It would pretty hard to miss after being around troubled children for so long." She gave me a serious look. Whether or not she would truly accept my puppy would depend on the answer I was about to give her.

"His father is currently in a rehabilitation center as a recovering alcoholic. He's spent the past few years of his life working whatever dead end jobs he could to pay of the growing debts and keep food on their table. Until he met his best friend, whom I know you've heard about, Yugi, he was in a gang. His physical and mental strength partially comes from the neighborhood that he grew up in." I watch carefully as she went over everything in her head.

"Well," she said, adorning the smile she typically wore before she surprise tickled the younger kids. "I think that we've left the youguns to your little boyfriend and Mokie. It's your turn now."

"Sure. I think I can handle it."

Sadistic-neko: To all of you guys wondering, I have no idea where this chapter came from. I kind of needed something to happen and this, sort of, leads up to it. I think. Either way, here it is and I am currently working on the next chap. When it gets posted completely depends on my school work. Well, until next time! Bye!


	19. Chapter 19

Sadistic-neko: Yippee! I got a new chapter out and none of you can get on to me for taking forever!

Yamis: …

Sadistic-neko: Oh yeah bitches! Remember this, silence is golden because it doesn't give you words to eat later! Now, do the disclaimer!

Yamis: (sighs exasperatedly) Fine. (turns to readers) Sadistic-neko does not own yugioh and hopes that you all enjoy her latest chaper.

**Jou POV**

"Wow!" I exclaimed as enthusiastically as I could. I held one of the kids' decks in my hand and I was looking over it. "These are some really awesome cards!"

Even though I was currently under a dog pile, I was having a great time. It was nice to see that I had all these little kids as fans, considering all the bad comments I used to get about only getting in the finals for all of the tournaments I entered. I laughed as they finally got off of me. As soon as I was free, I grabbed the ones that were closest to me and put them in double headlocks. I only relented when I felt a small tug on my sleeve. When I looked down, there was a little five year old boy, holding onto said sleeve. I kneeled down to his level so I could hear whatever it was that he wanted to say.

"Yes?" I asked, putting my hands on his shoulders to get him to relax.

"D-do you think that I-I…," he began, keeping his head down.

"Do I think that you can what?" I asked, coaxing as gently as I could.

"Do you think that I can become as good as you at dueling?"

I smiled softly at him. This kid was so much like I was when I started dueling. I ruffled his hair.

"Of course you can!" he looked at me skeptically. "Hey! It's true! When I started out I couldn't even tell the difference between a magic and trap card! I literally had to get everything beaten into me!"

"It's true," a deep, familiar voice that belonged to the very person I was planning on killing. "I dueled him when he was still beginning and he was pathetic."

The kids and I were able to tell that he wasn't being completely serious. He made it obvious that I wasn't exactly _pathetic_, per se, just bad. I almost laughed at how stupid I was in that duel. It was kinda cool how much I had improved, and most of that improvement was because of him, whether directly of not.

"Hey, guys," Seto said, wrapping his arms around my waist. "What do you say to letting Jou rest for a few so Norita-san can have a word with him?"

There were a couple of cheers before he disappeared under a sea of kids. There were even some that I didn't recognize from their attack on me!

"I don't think that I've ever seen him this happy." The voice just appeared out of nowhere beside me. So surprised that I nearly jumped out of my skin, I turned to face its owner so fast that I thought that I gave myself whiplash. When I saw that it was just Norita-san, I sigh out in relief. She gave me an amused look that scarily reminded me of Seto's before continuing. "Did you know that, even as a child, he was very withdrawn?"

"Really?" I asked, trying to find him under orphan mountain. It was kind of sad to think about. From the way she said that, it made me think that he never really got to have a childhood.

"Yeah. I knew his parents before I started this orphanage. In fact, they were the ones that helped me open it. We were always so confused by him. As a baby, he hardly cried, and, by the time he was three, he was pretty much independent. His parents were so worried because he was their first born and he wasn't doing anything that other parents and I said that small children do. The doctors telling them that he was perfectly healthy didn't do much to ease their worries. Even at that young age, the speed in which he progressed and learned was astounding. For a couple of years, if you looked in his eyes, you would swear that you were looking at someone ancient that had seen more than you could ever imagine." There was silence for a moment as we just stood there and watched Seto crawl out from beneath the other children and grabbed a few, tickling then like he had done to me only a few nights ago.

"I believe you," I said, smiling gently. "He and his cousin both are like that. Not to mention a friend of ours. They're special. That's all there is to it."

"You're right." Her slightly wrinkly features held the most delighted and affectionate expression you could ever hope to find. "Now, tell me, what is it that drew you to him?"

"What?" I asked, taken back by the sudden question."

"What is it that made you fall for him?" her expression darkened. "If it's something selfish and shallow, I will never be able to accept this relationship that you two are in."

"Well," I gulped, realizing for the first time how terrifying the elderly woman could be. "It's sort of hard to say. I mean, there's so much to love about him. He's smart, handsome, wonderfully kind to those he cares about and makes me feel so special protected. When I first met him, he was Satan himself, but now, he's just an amazing person that, if you ask me, deserves the best in the world. After all, the fates just seem to love screwing him over."

"I know what you mean," she said, throwing a sad look in his direction. "To have such wonderful loving parents taken form him like that, being forced to take care of his little brother almost single handedly and, worst of all, to end up in that horrible man's care, some higher power out there is definitely trying to torture him."

"You don't know the half of it," I said, clenching my hands into fists and, after composing myself as quickly as possible, changed the subject. "So, what were their parents like?"

"They were the two nicest kids I had ever met. They had known each other since they were small and loved each other almost as long and to the day they died. The only thing they loved more than each other, were those two. Kenji**(2)** was strong and strict, but he wasn't immune to the puppy dog eyes that his sons used on him all of the time. I swear Seto and Mokie had that man wrapped around their finger. Himeko**(2) **on the other hand, was kind and beautiful. There aren't many women that could compare to her." See pulled out a picture and handed it to me. "See?"

The photo in my hand was of a young couple sitting outside of the very building we were in. The man was tall, towering even. He had a strong, well-formed jaw, looked _very_ muscular and had a smile that looked to be rare, but well worth it to those that were able to get it out. His hair was black and he had eyes so dark that they looked like they were black.

The woman was more beautiful than words could describe. Her hair cascaded down her back like a black, iridescent waterfall. Her grey eyes shined like the most exquisite jewels and she wore a gorgeous, humble smile. She was slender and fragile looking.

Looking at both, I could find familiar features. Though Seto didn't really look too much like either one of them, I could find similarities in the way he and the man in the picture held themselves and they had the same smile. Mokie, though, was almost and exact copy of their mother. The only differences that I could find were that he had their father's nose and that her hair looked much smoother than his.

"You're right, she was beautiful. They look like they were wonderful people." I went to hand her back the picture, instead of taking it back from me, she took my hand in bother of hers.

"Keep it," she said, smiling to me and gently closed my fingers around it, making sure not to damage it. "I took this the day that I opened the orphanage. They were sitting outside and I caught them by surprise with the camera. This is the best picture there is of them. Even their wedding pictures weren't able to capture just how much they loved each other."

"I can't take something this important."

"Please," she said, tears forming in her eyes. "I'm sure that this is what they would want. Neither of the boys have anything to remember them by, and their parents would want to be there for Seto's graduation. So this for not only me, but them."

"Yes," I sobbed, tears pouring down my eyes. "I have just the way to bring them all together for the graduation. Thank you so much."

Without giving it a thought, I hugged her and she hugged me back. I could feel her embrace me not only as a child, but as a member of her family. When we were both done crying, we let go, whipping any trace of tears from our eyes. Before she left, she put her hand on my shoulder and nodded to me as a way to tell me that she trusted me with not only her two boys, but with the task of ensuring that the memory of their parents would live on. As she walked away, I took out my wallet and put the precious picture in it, behind my school id.

Once satisfied that it was secure, I looked around for Seto. He was talking to Norita-san, a kid that looked to be about three years old resting on his shoulders. He looked serious, and I could see his gaze flickering to Mokie and Noah, who had abandoned me the instant Seto set the orphans on. It looked like he didn't want them to hear what he was saying.

Curious, I walked up to them. Due to the noise in the room, I wasn't able to make out what they were saying until I was practically on top of them.

"You'll do it?" he asked, peeking a quick look at the pups again.

"Of course. I'll have everything ready by that date," she responded and left to round up the kids for lunch.

"What was the about?" I asked, helping Seto untangle the child's hands from his hair. As soon as the child was down, he leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"It's a secret." His breath ghosting across my ear made a shiver run up my spine. "So you'll just have to wait."

"That's not fair," I said, pouting. He just chuckled and pulled me to his chest.

"If I tell you then I risk you telling the pups. It is a surprise for them after all."

"I wouldn't tell." My pout only grew as chuckled some more at my expense.

"I know you too well to believe that. Keeping it a secret would drive you nuts." His humor faded away as he took in a deep whiff of my scent. "You were crying."

"Yeah," I said, hugging him. "Norita-san was telling me about your past and your parents and we ended up having a really emotional moment."

"Ah," he said, tightening his hold on me slightly. "They were really close. It doesn't surprise me that she would tell you about them."

"Do you remember a lot about them?"

"I remember what they taught me more than I do them. I was about six years old when they died and Mokie was only a toddler. It makes me sad that, every year, it becomes harder to remember what they looked like, or the sound of mom's voice when she sang lullabies to Mokie." He looked so blank as he spoke, as if he were trying to bring the memories back and make them clear again. "I just know that they were great people and small things like father carrying me on his shoulders and mom baking in the kitchen. That's good enough for me, after all, their still there."

I was almost in tears again. As much as it hurt that my parents weren't together, at least I still had mine. Even if my mother and I weren't on the best of terms, and pops was a drunkard that made me work my ass off just to live, they were still alive. All of a sudden, I couldn't wait for pops to get out of that hospital and I wanted desperately to call my mom. I made a silent vow to myself to never take them for granted again.

"I love you," I told him, knowing that he needed the affection.

"I love you too," he said, burying his nose in my hair. We just stayed that way for a while, taking comfort in the others presence. Then, he pulled away and gave me a kiss on my forehead. "We need to get going now. There's still one place that we need to visit before the day ends."

"Okay."

With that, we went about gathering the pups and said goodbye to Norita-san.

"Now you take care and make sure to look after these two. They'll be helpless if you don't," she said, giving me one last hug.

"Don't, worry, I will," I responded, giggling softly.

"Ra help us," Seto said dramatically. He gave a sheepish smile as the elderly woman gave him questioning look. "Long story."

She nodded and went about smothering the pups and saying goodbye to them too. As we were leaving, she stopped us.

"Tell them I say hi and that I'll be there to see them later tonight." Seto merely nodded to her and we all hopped in the car.

"Who are we going to see?" I asked as we pulled out the drive. The air seemed to grow heavy and dark. Then again, that could have been form the shadows moving lightly throughout the car to embrace Seto in what could only be a… comforting, way.

"Our parents." That was all he said. I instantly put my hands on his and gave it a light squeeze. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and gave me a little nod before turning his attention back to the road.

It took us about a half an hour to get the flowers and find the cemetery. The walk to the grave was quiet. No one could think of anything to say. Just when I was about to ask how much further it was just to end the deafening silence, I sensed something that stopped me dead in my tracks.

I wasn't sure what it was, but it terrified me. It was powerful and, for lack of another way to describe it, felt like death. I looked up at Seto, hoping that he would know what it was. I found that his gaze was focused straight ahead. Following his gaze, I saw a man standing in front of a grave. All of the unease and the power, was coming form him.

"Why, hello high priest Seto," he addressed the man beside me. The voice was like ice and sent frigged chills down my back. Seto tensed as the man turned to face us. I was amazed when the other wolf did, what looked like an ancient, courtly bow.

"To what do we owe the honor of your visit, Lord Anubis?" he asked, still bent low.

Jou: (shivers) How scary!

Seto: (pulls his puppy close, embracing him protectively) Don't worry puppy. He's not going to hurt you. In fact, the author tells me that he has good news.


	20. Chapter 20

Bakura: (Evil smirk) What was it you said in the last chapter about watching what you say and eating your own words?

Sadistic-neko: (Evil glare via half open eyes surrounded by dark circles) Shut up. It wasn't my fault. All of my stories are on my laptop and I haven't been anywhere with wify in forever! Do you how damn tired I am? I've been working my ass off to get this up tonight so you can just… go… to… (slumps over laptop and falls asleep)

Bakura: Well, since she's out like a light (turns to readers) Sadistic-neko does not own Yu-Gi-Oh and hopes that you enjoy this chapter.

Noah, Mokie and I all just stared in shock. He had to be kidding, right? The more I stared though, the more I was able to see it too. The enormous amount of power I felt was all of the proof that I needed.

"Wait," Noah said, still in shock. "By Anubis, do you mean the Egyptian god of the dead?"

"Well," the god said, motioning for Seto to rise. "Aren't you a smart one? It would appear that allowing you to live again was not a waste."

"I mean no disrespect, sir, but, do you mean that you brought Noah back to life?" Seto asked, trying to not offend the being that could, literally, kill us all with a look if he wanted to.

"No disrespect taken. Yes, I brought this child back."

"As far as my knowledge reaches, I have never heard of you releasing someone in you dominion so easily, so, may I ask as to why?"

"Does it not please you priest to have this child returned to your land?" he raised and eyebrow, as if daring him to continue questioning his judgment.

"It makes me very happy, sir, I was just curious. Is he to play some role that you desire of him?"

"You are luck that you have served me well in these past millennia, or I would be sure to torture your soul for all eternity for the gal you're showing, but, since you have done so, I will answer your question." Seto relaxed slightly as these words were said. "He _was_ to play a role in the mission that I have assigned your ancient cousin and the other spirits that I have sent back to this world. In fact, he has already done his duty."

"His mission was to give us the information on McNell, wasn't it?" Seto asked, the little light bulb over his head lighting up.

"Yes, and he gets to keep that life of his now that his job is done. You on the other hand, still have work to do." The god seemed to grow more ominous.

"What is my mission my lord?" the ancient priest asked in return, bowing yet again.

"Your mission is the same as the yami's. You are to aid in the elimination of the threat that the living world is currently under. It shouldn't be that hard considering you have already made plans to do so." Seto rose, a slightly surprised look on his face.

"Are you saying that McNell is the threat?" I could understand his shock. The scientist _sure as hell_ deserved to be punished for what he did, but a threat to the world. Was I missing something?

"Yes, I am. He is very close to uncovering the secrets to the shadow magic. He is weak of mind and would easily be overcome by the lord of the shadow realm. Quite a few humans will die if that happens, but much, much more would have their souls sealed into the shadow real for all time, never to enter the afterlife and join the circle of reincarnation. As overcrowded as my kingdom is at the moment, I can not have the flow change. The balance of all power and life and death _must_ be kept."

"I understand. The yamis and I will complete our mission without fail my lord." Anubis gave us a chilling smile and turned back to the grave. He made some motion with his hand then disappeared, leaving only the faint trace of his ominous power. Once he was gone, Seto turned to us, looking both somber and apologetic. "I'm sorry that you guys had to see that. It's normally pretty hard for people with no connection to the gods and ancient powers to be near him."

"I think I know why the yamis are working now, their scared to death of him." I almost smacked myself for creating that unintentional pun.

"Indeed," the former priest responded, kneeling down at the grave the god of death had previously been standing in front of. It read _Kenji and Himeko Ryu_.

"Your original last name was 'dragon'?" Noah asked after we set the flowers down, tidied the grave up a little and put sweet buns beside the flowers as an offering. I couldn't help but giggle a little as he said that. Would the irony ever end?

"As ironic as it is, yeah." Seto sighed. "It's becoming harder and harder to doubt that the fates and gods aren't doing everything just to torment me and make me a joke."

We went silent after that and fell into prayer.

"Seto and Mokie's parents, I wish that you were here," I silently prayed. "Even though I may never know if you guys do or not, I hope that you accept me as Seto's boyfriend, and, please know that I will do everything in my power to keep both of your sons happy. I will also make sure that they will still be able to have you in their lives."

I wasn't sure if the gentle wind that blew by right then was coincidence or not, but I liked to think that it was their way of responding to my prayers. After all, it, somehow, warmed my soul as it passed.

"It's getting dark," Seto said, pulling me out of my thoughts. "We better head home now."

I nodded and took his hand as we made our way back to the car, happy that I the opportunity to spend that day with him.

**Seto POV**

It was the day of our graduation and I was sitting in my office, trying to mentally prepare myself for what my brothers and I were about to go through. The only result I was getting was becoming more tense. I knew very well that recent events would make this day all the more difficult. The day of the court hearing that would determine whether or not I would be able to continue caring for Mokie. Deciding that I was just screwing myself over, I turned my thoughts to something more pleasant.

The hikaris, yamis, Jou and I had already walked down the stage and received our diplomas. How Marik and Bakura got good enough marks to join us I would never know. I was rather suspicious of the teachers' glazed look though.

Everyone had agreed that we would wait till after the hearing to decide if we were going have a graduation party or not. If we did it before the hearing, we would be too worried and tense to really enjoy it and if I didn't get custody, we would all be too damn depressed to even _think_ of partying.

I let a small smile loose as I thought of my puppy. He was still pestering me to know what the big surprise was that I was planning with Norita-san. I frowned, though, as I recalled the strange way that he had been acting the past week. He would ask to leave work early and go to the game shop and I swore that he was plotting something with the hikaris. I asked about it and he said that it was a surprise, bouncing my own little torture method right back at me. I also asked the yamis, but they were in the dark just as much as I was.

"Seto!" I snapped my head up as I was called out to. My puppy was standing in front of me, looking concerned. "If we don't leave now, we won't be there in time."

"Are the pups ready?" I asked, sighing as I stood from my chair.

"Yeah, the yamis helped Rai and me sneak them into the limo a few minutes ago. They're just waiting on us."

"Okay," I said as we entered the elevator. "Is it fair to assume that the others are already at the court house?"

"Yeah, the yamis said that they'll help Rai be our bodyguards and the hikaris went ahead of us." We just stood in silence after that, not really knowing what to say. My puppy broke that silence just before the elevator stopped. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure," I said, handing him a pair of sunglasses and putting a pair on myself. "Either way, all I can do is hope for the best and pray to all of the gods that this'll end soon."

With a small ding, the elevator doors opened and we were bombarded with camera flashes and obnoxiously loud questions.

"How long have you two _really_ been dating!"

"Was your previous hostility to each other just a ruse to hide your relationship?"

"Are you worried about if this will affect you business?"

"Is this just some publicity stunt?"

"How does it feel to be out of school?"

"Neither are willing to give a comment!" Rai's thunderous voice boomed over the paparazzi and the yamis jumped in and helped push them away so we could get in the waiting limo. They jumped in just after us.

"Damn!" Bakura growled. "You'd think those morons would figure out that they're not wanted by now!"

"Yeah," Marik agreed. "I mean, it's been, what, a week now since the public found out that you two were dating. Can't they just get over it?"

"It's their job, as annoying as it is," Yami intoned, sighing exasperatedly. "You also have to remember that Seto was the world's number one bachelor and is a world wide celebrity. Now that it's out that he's not only gay but is also in a relationship with another male, it has got to be the story of the millennium to them."

"Well, they could at least have the decency to at least leave us alone at the mansion!" Jou grumbled as he fussed over Mokie and Noah, making sure that their hair was neat and their shirts straight. "This morning we had to get some decoys to distract them in the limo while we snuck out the back in head to toe disguises! Last night, we barely got any sleep because they were out front of our window till freaking three in the morning flashing pictures and screaming their questions till they were hoarse!"

He quieted as the limo stopped in front of the court house. I took a deep breath and nodded to Marik to open the door. Just like at the office, we were bombarded by awaiting paparazzi. Marik and Rai got out first, hoping to silence the reporters through intimidation. It didn't work. My puppy, the pups and I got out behind them with Yami and Bakura right at our heels. Once inside and in the waiting room, we ran into the hikaris.

"It looks awful out there," Ryou said as he handed Mokie his suit to change into. "We had to practically crawl under them to get in here. It was a good thing that Seto had the foresight to send these ahead of us or they would be ruined."

"I've had to deal with this stuff for years," I said, swapping out my white coat and turtle neck black shirt with my dress shirt and suit jacket. "I would be an idiot to not send these ahead." I sighed. "What ever happened to the days that I would walk outside and people would either praise me or bow to me? Things were so much simpler then."

"I hear you cousin," Yami said sympathetically. "If it weren't for the fact that poor Jou wouldn't know what to do with you if your ego got any bigger, I would say that things going back to being like then would have absolutely no disadvantages."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes as I tied my tie.

"You're wrong yami," My puppy said, getting a comb out and jumping Mokie, pinning him down so he could get to the struggling pup's hair. "I would know exactly what to do if his ego got bigger."

"Really," the former pharaoh asked, an eyebrow raised. "What would that be?"

"Smack him upside his head until he wakes up. After all, we wouldn't want his head to get so big that he wouldn't be able to get through the door."

"Oh," I said, helping him up off of a pouting Mokie's back and wrapping my arms around him. "I see how loved I am. Who'd of ever thought that I got such an abusive mate?"

"Abusive or not, you love me anyway." He gave me a quick peck on the cheek, a smile lighting his face up.

"Yeah, I do." I kissed his forehead, giving him one last squeeze before judging everyone suitable to be presented before the court. Just as I was about to leave our dressing room of sorts, he grabbed my wrist and leaned up to whisper in my ear.

"I love you too, and don't worry, everything's going to be fine. You have all of our friends and me behind you and we won't let them take Mokie away."

"Thanks," I whispered back and squared my shoulders before stepping out.

As court cases usually go, it took the judge and others forever to state what the case was and so on. At last, they got to the part that I was dreading. The questioning.

"Now, Kaiba-san, you still desire full custody of your younger brother, Kaiba Mokuba?"

"Yes sir," I said, looking him straight in the eye. It was always best to be both determined and respectful when talking to a judge. "If there are no issues that you and the social worker can find."

"You do realize that taking care of a child like your brother is a large responsibility, correct?"

"With all due respect, sir, I rebuilt a major, world wide corporation and made it more profitable than ever when I was only in middle school. I have been running it, on my own, since and it has only grown. If I have already been doing that for years while also taking care of my brother, what makes you think that I wouldn't be able to from henceforth?"

"You have a point, but it seems to state here that you also wish to adopt the child sitting beside the young Mokuba. Kaiba Noah, I believe his name is."

"Yes sir." It was hard to keep myself composed as the others stared at me with wide eyes. "He has only recently been found after having vanished before Kaiba Gozaboro adopted my bother and me and is, by all rights, already a member of our family. I just thought that it wouldn't be right for the biological child of the man who adopted us to be left out and all alone."

"Another matter that I would like to discuss is your, ahem, boyfriend, a Jounochi Katsuya-san. Is it certain that he would be a good influence on them? From what I understand, he is a former gang member and has been raised in questionable circumstances. What assurance do we have that he won't have a negative effect on them?"

"Why don't you ask them yourself? After all, it is their future that this hearing is determining." I glared at the judge for even thinking that my puppy wasn't a suitable role model for the pups.

"Yeah!" Mokie called out. "Jou is great! He cooks for us and plays games with us and gets on to us if we are giving nii-san a hard time. He and nii-san are the best brothers that anyone could want! Did you even know that he competed in Duelists' Kingdom so he could pay for his sister's eye operation? Does that really sound like a guy who is a 'bad influence'? Nii-san and I haven't been as happy as we are with him since kaa-san and tou-san died!"

By the time he finished his little speech/rant, his chest was heaving and he was panting. He was also giving the judge a _very_ good imitation of my death glare. After getting a good look at the judge's stunned face I put my hand on Mokie's shoulder and eased him back into his seat.

"Well, sir," I said, trying my damndest to keep form smirking. "There you have it. Now, if you would be so kind as to make your decision, we would all appreciate it. Mokie and Noah both look like they could use a break."

He though about it for a few moments, glancing at the social worker's reports and previous interviews with Mokie. Finally, he sighed and raised his mallet thing and brought it down.

"From henceforth, custody of both Kaiba Mokuba and Kaiba Noah is to be granted to Kaiba Seto. No further trials are to be made to oppose it unless drastic issues arise."

I could have fainted as the main source of the tension I had been feeling for years was lifted off of my shoulders. The only thing that kept me grounded were the loud whoops coming from behind me and three bodies colliding into me in a group glomp. It knocked the wind out of me and nearly landed me on my ass.

"See Seto!" my puppy, having been one of the people that jumped me, exclaimed. "I told you that it would work out!"

"Yeah. You were right." I smiled and hugged him back, patting the pups on the head when I let go. By the time everyone calmed down, I was scanning the entire building, looking for one person that wouldn't miss it for the world. I saw her standing by the door, waiting for the crowd to disperse. "Hey guys, let's go see Norita-san. I need to thank her for something."

The others nodded and began following me, the yamis and hikaris questioning Jou about the woman the entire way. As soon as he saw her, Mokie ran in front of me and right into her awaiting arms.

"Norita-san!" he yell, more excited than a kid in a candy store. "Did you see? Seto has custody of Noah and me now!"

"Yes," she replied in her warm maternal voice. "I did and I'm very happy for all three of you."

"Can you believe that the judge thought that Jou wouldn't be good for us?" I almost laughed as he pouted. He could be just too cute some times. "Well, I sure set him straight!"

"Hey, Seto," My puppy said, leaning against my chest as I wrapped my arms around him and watched the pups talk with our former guardian. "Why didn't you tell us that you were going to try and adopt Noah?"

"It was a surprise." I smirked as he smacked his forehead.

"I can't believe I didn't figure it out!" he berated himself. "That's what you were talking to Norita-san about the other day when you wouldn't tell me."

"Yep. I asked her to have some papers made for him and to set everything up. As far as the court is concerned, Noah disappeared as a toddler and we found him at her orphanage."

"You really can be an evil genius sometimes. You do know that, right?" he asked, turning in my arms to smile at me. I chuckled.

"I thought you figured that out when I set up Death-T."

"No, that was just stupid. I mean, there are better ways to get at someone and doing all of that just because Yami and Yug tied you in game of a duel monsters was a pretty pathetic reason."

"Ouch, but I have to agree with you. I actually have no idea what I was thinking then. At least I redeemed myself."

"Yeah, you did. To think that you went from a psychopath trying to kill all of us to being one of our friends and my boyfriend. Who could've seen that coming?"

"The fates?" I asked, realizing for the first time that actually made something good happen to me, for once.

"Maybe."

"You too. If I remember correctly, you used to be Yugi's biggest tormenter. Well, you and Honda."

"True enough. At least we did that to make him a man! It's kind of funny that he's the one that's pretty much made us real men. After all, picking on someone smaller and weaker than yourself is really damn cowardly." His nose scrunched up in disgust as he thought back. "Standing up to someone a lot stronger than you to protect someone like he did takes a real man."

"You're right. We've all had our issues, but, now that we're older and more mature, we've worked through them."

"You're starting to sound like an old man," he giggled, playfully slapping me on my shoulder. "If you keep this I'll feel like I'm dating an old geezer."

"I don't sound old!" I said, feigning indignation. "The word that you're looking for is wise! And I have every right to sound like that! I'm over five thousand years old for Ra's sake!"

"What will mother think when she finds out that her baby boy is dating an old man?" He turned around in my arms again to face away from me and put the back of his hand on his forehead and leaned more heavily on me to be as dramatic as possible. "At least I've got a famous old man that looks damn good for his age."

"I know. Normally people my age and from my social class look like bad jerky." He just kind of stared at me. "What, have you ever seen a good looking mummy?"

"Now that you mention it," he laughed. "I bet if we found your tomb we'd get to see Seto jerky."

"I'd rather not," I said, repulsed by the mere thought. "It would be pretty weird to look at my own mummified corpse."

"True enough."

"Do I even want to know?" We looked up and saw Norita-san staring at us skeptically.

"Not really?" we said at the same time. She just closed her eyes and shook her head while she sighed. I thought that she still believed that I had sustained some sort of head injury.

"Anyway, thank you Norita-san. Because of you, I have my whole family together now and Noah can live a normal life," I said, letting go of my puppy and hugging the woman that I saw as a mother for intended purposes. At first, she seemed shocked. In all of the years that she had known me, I don't think that I had ever hugged her, so I didn't blame her. Once she was over the shock, though, she hugged me back.

"Anytime Seto-chan. You'll never know how happy I was to help." The yamis, of course, had to ruin the moment. Right after she finished her last sentence, they began cooing at me.

"Isn't that just too cute Marik?" Bakura asked in a baby voice.

"Yeah. Who would've thought that the priest was such a softie?" the addressed yami replied. I let go of Norita-san and looked to my puppy.

"Hey, puppy, I was thinking about making another Death-T for those two. What do you think? I'm sure that your father would love to help me design it." He tilted his head to the side.

"I don't see any problem with that," he said, perfectly seriously. "That is, as long as you let me help plan it. We can't have it being as easy to get out of as the last one that you put the rest of the gang and me in."

"Of course. I wouldn't leave you out." The panther and tiger just stared at us in confusion. Since neither one was around when I set up the first one, they had no idea what we were talking about.

"Now, boys," Norita-san said in a scolding tone. "Behave."

"If you say so," we both sighed. Leave it to the mother figure to be the killjoy.

"Well," she began when she figured that we would act appropriately. "Don't you guys have a graduation party to get to?"

We blinked a couple of times before realization dawned on us. We were totally late for the party that we had planned at the game shop! And worse, Otougi and Honda were there with only Yugi's grandfather, Soguroku, to keep them from devouring all of the food!

Everyone flew out of the court house in a flash, only being slowed down when we hit paparazzi just outside the door. By the time that we got to Kame Game Shop, all of the food was gone and the pig boyfriends were lying on the floor with bulging stomachs. Luckily, though, Soguroku had planned ahead and only laid out _some_ of the food while they were waiting for us.

**Jou POV**

As the party went on we got louder and louder and, basically, just had a ball. There was plenty of music and snacks. The pups even got in on the fun. It was getting kind of late though and I had something that I still needed to do.

"Hey guys!" I yelled over the song that blasted as loud as it could be. "Turn off the music for a few, I've got a surprise that's just dying to be unwrapped!"

"Yeah!" the hikaris cheered and someone, I had no idea who, turned off the music.

"I need to go get it, but I'll just be a moment!" I said and bounded up the stairs to Yug's room and where we were hiding the present. I grabbed it and just about sprinted down the stairs and came to a skidding halt in front of my bewildered boyfriend. "This is for you Seto! It's from Norita-san and me! The hikaris helped too!"

He narrowly dodged being hit in the nose by the package that was wrapped in shiny white paper and a blue ribbon and bow. It was taken out of my hands before I could cause too much damage. At first, he just stared at it, as dumfounded that I got him anything, but, after a moment of being stunned, began to robotically open it.

The first thing that he saw was a black envelope that had a red swirly pattern adorning it. Knowing that you always have to read the cards first, he grabbed and, as carefully as possible, opened it. As his eyes met the words I had written, his brow ruffled in confusion.

"What's it say priest?" Bakura asked.

"It says, 'I know that they're proud of you, Love your puppy'." He looked up at me as if seeking answers. Instead of telling him, I motioned for him to open the box. Brow still furrowed, he complied. He froze as soon as he could see what was housed in the box, a single tear running down his face.

"Nii-san?" Mokie called, concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he replied, not bothering to wipe the stray tear away, or the few others that followed it. "Come over here, Mokie. I have a feeling that this is supposed to be for you too."

Perplexed, he did as he was told. He gave Seto, who now wore an affectionate expression one last concerned look before shifting his gaze to the box that lay in his brother's lap. Just as the wolf did, he turned shocked.

"N-nii-san," the younger of the two began. "Is that… are they?"

"Yeah." He pulled out the gift and everyone began to crowd around us to either see what the hell it was that had Seto _crying_ or to get another look at the gift that they had so kindly helped me make and keep a secret.

It was a picture. It was in a hand carved and painted frame. The base was made to look like a bed of roses all painted white, blue, red and violet. (I painted them like this to represent our dragons. I avoided black because a black rose stands for death.) The sides of the frame resembled vines, rose buds of one of the previous colors or another scattered about them. The top was like clouds and even had cotton like material to make them seem more real. The picture itself, though, was the real eye catcher.

It was of two people. One a strong looking man with a rare looking but well-worth smile. The other was a woman with beauty beyond compare. Her flawless ebony hair cascaded down her back, making her sparkling grey eyes even more brilliant, as impossible as it seemed.

"Who're they?" Marik, being as slow as he could be at times, asked.

"My and Mokie's parents," Seto said, reaching out to lightly caress the frame with one hand and pulling a sobbing Mokie to his side in an embrace. Once both he and his brother had whipped their tears and, in Mokie's case, blown their nose Seto let Mokie go (Noah hugged him as soon as he was free) he looked to me and motioned for me to come to him. As soon as I was close enough for him to reach, he grabbed me and pulled me into his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around me. "Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me."

"I'm not the only one that had something to do with it," I said, hugging him back. "Norita-san gave me the picture. Malik helped me carve the details. Ryou painted it for me since I had no idea what I was doing there. I did pick all of the colors though, and, last but _most definitely _not least, Yug enlarged the picture for me and printed a lot more copies in different sizes. In fact, I have some wallet sizes for both you and Mokie and a larger one that we can hang up in the study or somewhere waiting for us at home."

"You really went all out, didn't you?" he chuckled.

"Of course. Both you and Mokie deserve to have a special picture of your parents. After all, you don't have anything else to remember them by." I could feel him look up, moving his nose away from my hair.

"Thank you too, Yugi, Ryou and Malik." He pulled me away and looked me in the eye. "I have something for you, but you'll have to wait until we get back home. I, personally, don't think that it'll be as wonderful as what you've given me, but I think that you'll like it."

"Really?" I asked, perking up at the mention of a gift. "What is it?"

"It's a surprise you silly puppy," he half chuckled, half whispered in my ear. "You're going to have to wait."

"Aw." I jutted out my bottom lip in a pout. "Can't I at least have a hint?"

"Sure. It has a similar theme to your gift." I stared at him in wonder, trying to figure out what he got me. I seriously doubted that it was flowers or anything related. He smirked as he watched me. I was almost certain that the gears grinding in my head as I thought were loud enough to be heard by an outside party and that they must have been causing smoke to come out of my ears.

A few hours later, Seto and I walked into the mansion, him carrying Mokie and I had Noah in my arms. They had passed out in the car on the home. Trying our hardest to not wake them, we walked as smoothly and quietly as possible to their room. Like Seto and me, they shared a room.

We were still keeping an eye on Noah. Just because we trusted him not to try and sabotage us didn't mean that we completely approved of him as dating material for the younger Kaiba. He was still a little brother to us though, so were trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I watched as Seto tucked them in. Again, I couldn't help but find it so adorable. They curled up to each other as soon as they were free from the elder's grasp and, like Seto I had a small, content smile gracing my lips.

Once satisfied that the pups were taken care of, he turned and left the room, taking my hand and walking me out too along the way. It was small things like that that made me love him all the more.

I knew that I would probably never be able to understand just how lucky I was to have him. He was strong and protected me. His temper and personality always gave me a challenge, but I never felt unloved, and last, but not least, he was just the perfect family guy. All in all, he was perfect and I couldn't figure out how I had such a hard time understanding how I felt for him.

He pulled us into our room and to the bed. I giggled as he plopped down on its cushiony splendor. After throwing a playful smirk and growl my way and pulled me on too. We were sitting there, Seto with his back against the headboard and me sitting between his legs and snuggling into his chest.

"What has you smiling so much?" he asked me, more whispering in my ear than anything.

"What isn't there to smiling about?" I responded, taking his hand and putting it to my face and rubbing my cheek against it. "Life has been looking up so much lately. Sure, we've become freaks of nature in a sense, but we've gotten so much more. We're together now, the pups are ours and you and the yamis are going to stop the bastard that did this to us."

"I guess you're right, but, I have a feeling that it's not what you're grinning about." There was another thing I loved about him. He loved me and knew me so well that he understood almost my every mood.

"You're right." He took his hand from my face, wrapped his arms almost lazily around me and rested his chin on my shoulder.

"I figured that I would be." I giggled and playfully smacked his arm to prevent his ego getting too big. He chuckled at my antics and rubbed his head against mine (one of our more animalistic forms of affection) to let me know that he got the message. "So, what is it?"

"I was just thinking about how good you are with kids. It's almost surprising, really. You would make a great dad."

"I'm glad that you think so. I really do see Mokie and Noah as my own pups now, but I know that it won't be too long until they are too big to always depend on me. When that time comes, it would nice to have pups of our own. We could even get them to call you 'mommy'."

"No way in hell are you going to do that." There was little fire behind my words, but I knew that he could tell that I was serious. "You will sleep on the couch for the rest of your life." There was a slight pause. "Well, until I feel like you should come back."

"You'd miss me too much." I couldn't see his face very well, but I could _feel_ in the air. "Anyway, what makes you think that you can force me sleep on the couch. It's _my_ house after all."

"Haven't you ever heard the saying, 'if the mate ain't then nobody is'?"

"I believe that what you mean is, 'if the _wife_ isn't happy then nobody is'."

"Same difference," I said with a shrug of the shoulders. "Where were you planning on getting the kid from anyway? Norita-san's orphanage?"

"Of course." The way he said it was like there wasn't another orphanage in the world. Then again, to him, it was probably the only option.

"Can I have my present now?" I asked, having just remembered its existence. I was sure that my eyes were wide as I looked up at him expectantly, like a kid awaiting permission to open their Christmas presents.

"I don't see why not," he chuckled and leaned over to open the nightstand on his side of the bed. What he pulled out was a long, skinny box that reminded me of the ones that necklaces came in. The case itself was black and it had a dark red ribbon tied around it. He handed it to me, laying his arm back down when it was safely in my hand to keep his arms around me. "I hope you like it."

I opened it both slowly and curiously. What met my eyes left me in awe. It was a set of beautiful dog tags. One was white and had a dazzling blue gem set in it. The other was black and a blood red jewel set in it. As I moved it, I noticed that there was something engraved in the both of them. On one side, they held one of two very recognizable dragons. The other side held words.

The white one that had Seto's dragon adorning it said, _Kaiba Seto, lover and companion of Jounochi Katsuya_, and the black one that held my Red Eyes Black Dragon said, _Jounochi Katsuya, lover, companion and property of Kaiba Seto_. I laughed as I read the last one.

"Possessive bastard." He chuckled and kissed my neck.

"You wouldn't have me any other way. I'm glad that you found the humor in yours. I was fully prepared to run like hell if I had to." He took the tags by their chain and placed it on my neck. I shivered as he kissed me behind my ear.

"W-what made you think of this?" I asked, trying to compose myself. Damn that felt good.

"The pet name I gave you inspired me to go for dog tags. Well, that and I remember that you wore some during my Battle City tournament. The dragons were a no-brainer. The engravings on the back just came to me when I was thinking of what else I should add to them." I moaned quietly as he lightly nipped my earlobe.

"What are t-they m-made of?" I was turning to jelly under his ministrations.

"The one for me is made of white gold and the eye is sapphire. Yours is made from onyx and a ruby. The chain is silver. It took me a while to find the perfect materials. They aren't hand made like the present you gave me was, but I was the one that designed it. How do you like them?"

"I-I love them," I gasped. He was licking my neck.

"Hm," he hummed, sending enticing vibrations across my neck. I jumped a little as one of his hands went under shirt and began caressing every inch of flesh that it could reach. "That's great. I didn't know what I was going to do if you didn't."

"W-what are you doing?" I asked in an almost breathless voice. I melted and moaned, _much _louder than the last time, as his hand grazed one of my nipples. My pants were quickly becoming _way_ too damn tight and I whished that _someone_, I didn't care which one of us did it, would remove them already and ease my discomfort.

"I don't why, but you smell so good right now. Not that you don't always, but right now, it's just so _alluring_. I just can't seem to resist." To this day, I'm not sure if it was his voice alone, the way he growled those last words _oh so sensually_, or if I was just that horny, but, with those few words, I snapped.

Without a second thought, I turned around in his arms. The movement was so sudden and quick that I accidentally caused him to scratch me with his claws. I could feel drops of blood running down my sides, but I was too caught in the blazing blue gaze of the other wolf. They turned a silvery color as they reflected the moonlight that was allowed through the large window that was sitting innocently on the back wall. After taking a second to admire those amazing orbs, I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pull on it, meeting him half way to slam my lips against his. That aggressive and passionate move lit a fire in the both of us

**Third person POV (sighs contently: aw, lemony goodness) if you don't like or don't want to, don't read the rest of the chap.**

Once the aforementioned blaze was ignited, there was no stopping it. Seto responded to the kiss just as passionately as his mate initiated it. Jou's hands flew around his neck and the hand that wasn't being used to roam around the flesh beneath the blonde's shirt came up to tangle itself in the golden locks. It seemed that all of the strength in their bodies was being used to glue them even closer together than they already were. As close as they got, it just wasn't enough.

As if realizing this, the blue eyed wolf began to lift the other's shirt above his head inadvertently putting tears in it as he went. He broke their kiss and threw the article of clothing in some indiscriminate direction and forced his mate's kiss swollen lips back on his own.

Jou was following the other's lead and was _trying_ to undo the buttons of the brunette's shirt. Not being able to see what he was doing and not really even concentrating on it too much either way hindered his progressed. Eventually, he got frustrated with it and just used his claws to cut the front to shreds and let it fall from the man's shoulders.

With that done, the two males began to crush themselves to the other again, the skin on skin contact only fanning the already blazing flame. The kiss was, somehow deepened and the brunette, needing more, trailed his tongue along the blonde's bottom lip. Access was granted eagerly and an epic battle began between the two for dominance of their dance. Even as he lost, the blonde let out a pleasured moan and his alpha growled in irritation as his hand began to sink lower. There was something blocking him from reaching what he desired.

Soon, the something, Jou's pants, were carelessly removed and thrown to some unknown corner of the room. He removed his lips from their kiss and the blonde's whine of loss was cut short as the lips moved to his chest. He barely even noticed when the larger of the two flipped them. All he could comprehend was the delightful caresses being applied to his fully awakened length and one nipple and the warmth that engulfed the other. It wasn't long before the other was treated to the same exquisite treatment.

Soon, it was just too much and the writhing blonde released his milky nectar all over his own stomach and his mate's chest with a howl that that resembled his tormenter's name. Said mate let out a pleased growl and lifted himself to nuzzle his mate's readily bared neck, showing his submission, and gave it a quick nip and lick to show his approval. As much as he would have loved to continue teasing his puppy, his own need was becoming harder and harder to ignore as the seconds passed. It took him only seconds to rip the last bits of clothing, his pants and boxers, away situate himself between the marvelous, long, slender, tan legs that lay spread wide before him.

Still wanting to pleasure his lover as much as possible, he ran his hands up his puppy's thigh and caressed the inside of it, ever so sinfully close to the puckered entrance just waiting to be given the attention that they both know it needed. He vaguely noticed how damp the area was and noticed that said entrance seemed to be releasing some kind of submissive fluid or lubricant. Instead of bothering to think about it, he just brushed it off and decided that the little bottle that he placed in his nightstand was now unnecessary.

With that information, he slowly slid a finger into his mate's virginal hole. The blonde squirmed at the discomfort the intrusion caused but relaxed as he became accustomed to the feeling. Mindful of his claws, the blue eyed teen moved his finger carefully, searching while preparing his mate. Soon enough he added a second digit and began to do a scissoring motion, stretching the pathway as much as he could to ensure as little pain as possible. The blonde winced, but, otherwise showed no signs that they should stop. It was when the third finger that the smaller one whimpered.

Hearing the sound, Seto stopped and waited until his puppy shifted and nodded to him to continue. He stretched him more until the dominate was satisfied that his little uke was ready for him. Unable to wait any longer, the seme removed his fingers and lined himself up with the entrance that seemed to weep for him. Then, as slowly as his sanity would allow, he enter the puppy that he adored.

The motion was stopped when the arms that wound themselves around him at some point tightened their hold on him and the clawed fingers attached to them dug into his back. He looked up to find his precious fair-haired love with his eyes scrunched closed and a fang digging into his bottom lip in pain. Feeling guilty at the sight, he rubbed his head against the others and whined, giving him a loving lick in apology. The lick was returned, signaling that he was forgiven. After a moment of adjusting, he was permitted to continue and he began thrusting as slowly and shallowly as possible, trying not to hurt mate any more. With each thrust, he worked his way deeper and adjusted his angle, looking for the one thing that could turn his mate's pain into indescribable pleasure.

At last, he was able to enter to the point that he was fully sheathed and, as he finished one particularly deep and power, but gentle, thrust, honey eyes flew open and claws raked down his back and the legs that had been gripping at his waist wrapped around him and pulled him even further in. He smirked and aimed for that same spot increasing his speed and force as his mate would growl viciously if he even _attempted_ to slow.

Pressure began to build in his lower abdomen and he knew that he wouldn't be able to last much longer. Wanting to coax his mate into a similar state, he grabbed the other long rejuvenated length and began pumping it in time with the now erratic thrusts. Soon enough, they both let out incomprehensible howls, the blonde releasing all over the two again and the other releasing deep within his mate, feeling some kind of odd satisfaction that he couldn't understand.

Too damn tired to think about, he carefully removed himself from his mate and collapsed next to him. He pulled his exhausted mate to his chest, pulled the blankets over them and got comfortable. The mess they created barely caught his attention, but he just decided that they could deal with it later and inhaled his mate's sent, which had, somehow, became more beautiful to him.

"I love you Seto," he heard as oblivion began to overcome him. They were finally over the overpowering animalistic instincts and could manage to communicate properly.

"I love you too, puppy," he replied, caressing the small of the blonde's back and falling asleep.

Sadistic-neko: I would just like to inform you all that that was my first lemon ever, so if it leaves something to be desired, let me know so I can improve and if like it, please let me know. Now! To bed before I start seeing birdies in pilot outfits flying upside down too!


	21. Chapter 21

Bakura: (stares dumbfounded) What the hell are is going on?

Sadistic-neko: (glares irritably) What does it look like?

Bakura: Like Seto and the mutt are hugging you unmercifully?

Sadistic-neko: No shit! Someone give the genius a prize!

Bakura: Why?

Sadistic-neko: Didn't read the last chapter?

Bakura: Oh.

Sadistic-neko: Yeah. Since I can barely breathe right now, do you mind doing the disclaimer?

Bakura: Sure. (turns to readers) Sadistic-neko does not own Yu-Gi-Oh and hopes that you'll like her latest chapter.

**Seto POV**

I awoke to the sun shining in my eyes. Groaning, I pulled the covers over my face and pulled my puppy closer to my chest. He immediately responded and unconsciously snuggled into me. That was when I felt his leg rub against one of my more, well, intimate parts. I couldn't figure out why the hell I was so damn sensitive.

"Shit," I half groaned. It took me a moment to remember why the hell we were both naked as the day that we were born (the stupid morning haze kicking in again). When it came back to me, I smirked and nuzzled my nose in the soft hair that was shining lightly because of the light that streamed through the window. I shuddered as his delicious sent entered my nose.

Throughout the past few days, his scent had been changing, becoming so intoxicating that it took everything in me not to just jump him and pound him into the nearest surface. As happy as I was that my puppy and I finally mated, it irked me that I had absolutely no control of myself. It felt more like two animals mating than two humans making love. What worried me the most, though, was that I wasn't sure if I hurt him. I knew that I wasn't as gentle as I wanted to be. My thoughts came to a stop as I felt my puppy shift in my arms.

"Morning Seto," he said, sitting up and stretching. I just about banged my head against the headboard when he inadvertently bared his neck to me. He really needed to watch himself, because I wasn't sure how much longer I would be able to hold myself back if he kept doing things that were signs of submission.

"Good morning," I greeted back and stretched too. "How are you feeling? I didn't hurt you last night, did I?"

"Not at all. My back's a little tense, but that's it."

"That's good." I grinned as an idea popped into my head and quickly grabbed my puppy, threw my legs over the side of the bed and lifted him up and began carrying him bridal style to the bathroom.

"Eep!" He wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled himself closer to my chest. "What the hell do you think that you're doing Seto!"

"Carrying you to the bathroom. You said that your back is tense and nothing helps as much as a nice hot shower. Not to mention that we're still a mess from last night."

"Oh." He blushed. I didn't know that if it was because we had done the night before or if it was from the though of taking a shower together, something we had yet to do. I chuckled at the sight and sat him down on the toilet so I could get the shower ready. When the temperature was just right, I grabbed him and led him into the steamy water.

Once we were in, I pulled him to my chest, made sure that the water was hitting his back and began massaging his lower his lower back. He let out a moan and I had to bite back one of my own as I realized that the water was only serving to make his scent all the more enticing. Deciding that any more tenseness could be worked out by the water, I reached for the shampoo and began washing his hair and my own. I was pleased when he seemed to melt when I was massaging the stuff in his hair.

**Warning: Lemon coming up. Look for bold for the end.**

We both stood under the water a few minutes later, just letting it wash over us and rinse all of the soap and hair products from us. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, my puppy wrapped his arms around me and began nuzzling my chest. As many times as he had done that before, something felt different that time. It didn't feel innocent and, frankly, I was beginning to care less and less as he began to rub his body against mine.

"Puppy?" I began in a kind of gasp as his erection rubbed against my steadily growing one. He growled and pulled me down into a fierce kiss.

"I need you, Seto," he half growled out seductively. "Now."

With that, I threw all of my control to the wind and slammed my lips against his. He returned the kiss, as barbaric and hungry as it was, and pulled me down so that I was seated on the shower's floor. As soon as my ass hit the floor, he got down too and straddled my waist. Just as I had, he slammed our lips together.

I became torn. There was a part of me that was pleased with my puppy's display of dominance, that found it thrilling, but there was a louder, more conflicted feeling too. As much as I loved him and was happy that he wanted this, I was, somehow, enraged. The wolf DNA in me just wouldn't stand for my cute little mate to try and dominate me. I was the alpha damn it!

Before I could even understand what I was doing, I broke the kiss and growled at him. He could feel my displeasure and whined, leaning down to give my chest a quick lick and leaned back again, presenting his bared neck to me. Satisfied that he was reminded of which of us was the alpha, I wrapped my arms around him and pressed him to my chest. After giving his neck a little lick, I nipped at his earlobe and bit down on his neck and suck on it to help relieve the pain from the two tiny puncture wounds.

Then, knowing what we both wanted and needed, I lifted him up just above my dick and looked up to him to make sure that he was ready. He nodded and began lowering himself onto me and I moaned as I felt his tightness surround me. Damn I loved how it felt to be completely encased by him.

As desperately as I wanted to move, to just ram into him as powerfully as I could, I waited for him to move. Even as overwhelmed by my animalistic instincts as I was, I didn't want to hurt him.

_Finally _he lifted himself up, using my shoulders to keep his balance. I automatically took hold of his hips and helped him up. Our eyes locked for a second and kissed each other. There was more love in this one instead of just lust and passion. I ran my tongue along his bottom lip, demanding entrance, which he readily gave. Without breaking our lip lock, I pulled him back down on me and thrust upward, deep into him.

We continued like this, breaking apart for only milliseconds to breathe. There was no pattern to our thrusts and the only thing that remained constant was the angle that we initiated them, keeping it to where every time we hit his prostate. His muscles began to spasm around me and I knew that he wouldn't last much longer, so I began to move faster. He gasped and came only seconds later. I moaned as he clenched around me and released deep inside of him a few thrusts later.

**Okay, it's safe to look now! Enjoy!**

"Feeling better now?" I asked when I caught my breath, running my fingers through his soaked hair. He lay limp against me, his head against shoulder. The water still ran over us, but it was still warm because of the amazing water heater that we had.

"Much," he mumbled tiredly. I chuckled and got up. After I turned the water off, I lifted him up and placed him on the toilet again. It only took me a few moments to dry us both off and dress us. My puppy was asleep again before I could even get him to the bed.

**Jou POV**

I awoke to someone shaking me. Growling lightly, I opened my eyes to see who the hell was stupid enough to disturb me and met sapphire. The next thing that came to my attention was the smell of food. No longer caring that my slumber was interrupted, I sat up quickly and looked to Seto excitedly.

He was holding a tray with a silver cover. I went to grab for it but he moved it out of my reach. I heard a chuckle and glared up at him.

"Now, now puppy," he said, clearly amused. "You'll just have to wait a moment."

"Whyyyyy?" I whined and watched him walk around to his side of the bed. "I wanna eeeaaaaaaat!"

"Because this is my lunch too obviously. As soon as I sit down we can both eat." It seemed to take him forever to situate himself. To spite him, I took the tray from him and turned my back on him. I yelped as I felt arms wrap around me and pulled me to a warm chest. "Silly puppy."

Figuring that the sooner I just relaxed and let him do what he wanted, the soon I would eat, I got comfortable and let him take the lid off of our food. I just knew that drool was running out of the corner of my mouth as I beheld the scrumptious looking food that was held on the silver platter.

It was a sandwich and salad. Now, before you start laughing too much, this was one of those really fancy looking ones and I could smell the meat on it. The roast beef both smelled and tasted like an expensive steak and the chicken some of that really nice slow roasted stuff that just melts in your mouth. The salad on the other hand was made of vegetables so fresh that they were still crisp and the dressing was sweet and tangy kind of vinaigrette.

I stared at it in an almost worshiping manner for a moment and dug in. Seto chuckled again and grabbed his own eating it at a much slower and more civilized pace. Needless to say, I finished way before him.

Instead of moving as soon as I was done, I just sat there and waited for him to finish. The entire he ate, he kept his left arm around me, his hand resting on my right hip. It was so comfortable that I almost fell asleep again. Fighting the drowsiness I tried talking.

"Today's the day that you and the yamis are going after McNell, right?"

"Yes." He unconsciously pulled me closer at the mere mention of the bastard's name.

"When are the yamis going to get here?"

"Around six. We decided to have them bring some pizza so we can all have dinner together before we leave." He patted my hip to tell me to move so he could get up. "How about we play some games with the pups until then?"

"Have they eaten yet?" I asked him, ready to beat the shit out of him if they hadn't. It was one o'clock in the afternoon for heaven's sake!

"Of course. I made sure of that before I brought our food up here. You didn't think that I would neglect them did you?" I laughed and grabbed his hand, already heading towards the door.

"Just checking." I smiled and ran to Mokie and Noah as I saw them and tackled them, convincing Seto to aid me in a tickle war!


	22. FINAL

Sadistic-neko: (dodges flying streamer and yells over partying and whoops) The moment you have all been waiting for is here! (turns to Bakura and Marik) Hey! No alcohol, Remember?

Bakura and Marik: (grumbles and stalks off to dispose of liquor)

Sadistic-neko: Well, now that that's dealt with (turns to readers) I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh and I hope that you enjoy the final chapter of this story!

The knock on the door came at almost the exact same time as a random clock that so happened to be near us began to chime six times. With a sigh, Seto got to move me off of his lap and left Mokie, Noah and me staring at the TV to go answer the door. There pups and I had our eyes glued to the screen like brain dead zombies until the smell of cheese, pepperoni and other pizza related scents wafted up our nostrils. With that stimulus, we perked right up and ran to the kitchen to jump the mini mountains of cardboard boxes like ravenous animals.

It didn't even take us, the yamis, hikaris, pups, Seto and me, a full hour to slaughter every last one of the six that was ordered. Fat, dumb and happy, as the saying goes, we were lounged out in various locations of the living room, waiting for the sun to go down for the yami's and Seto's mission to begin. We put in another movie to pass the time.

As the end credits rolled, Seto and the yamis got up and went upstairs to change. When they came back down, they were decked out in all black. Combat like boots and gloves adorned their hands and feet and everyone, with the exception of the wolf, wore black hats (I would never know how yami managed to get the damn thing to stay on his head) and not a thing could be seen of their light locks. In all honesty, they looked like they were about jack a bank or something.

"We're leaving now," my mate said as he wrapped his arms around my waist. "We'll be back as soon as we can. Take care of yourself and make sure that the pups get to bed, okay?"

"Of course. You be careful too."

"I will be." He smiled and gave me a quick kiss before turning around and leading the yamis to the garage. I watched him leave sadly and prayed with everything that I had that they would all come back safe.

"Hey, Jou?" Yugi asked about two hours after our mates left. We had just gotten done putting the pups to bed and all of the hikaris and I were sitting in the living room waiting for the others to get back.

"Yeah?" I replied, fixing my half asleep gaze to him. That's when I noticed that everyone was staring at me. "What?"

"Why do you have a bite mark on your neck?" Malik asked, his lips curling in a perverted smirk. I paled and brought my hand up to cover it.

_Damn it_, I thought. _I completely forgot that was there!_

When I got up and changed before I exited my and Seto's room I had made sure that it was covered, knowing that I would get this kind of reaction form the others. It looked like I didn't do a good enough job when we all changed into pjs.

"You and Kaiba have been having some fun without telling us haven't you?" the now dubbed _sadistic_ blonde hikari asked wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Maybe." I blushed red as a tomato.

"Oh come on, there's nothing to be embarrassed about!" He nudged me with his elbow. "You've talked about _our_ activities no problem. What's the difference?"

"It's not that I'm embarrassed about _actually_ doing it. It just that I totally acted like a bitch in heat! I can't believe myself!" I gripped my hair and damn near pulled the two fist full's out of my head. "I was so bad that he felt the need to reassert his dominance! He actually had to growl at me!"

"That's nothing to be upset about!" the Egyptian ass laughed. "If the sexual tension's high enough you just act! If you need it, you need it."

"I'm inclined to agree with him," the white haired hikari said fixing me with a serious gaze.

"Me too," the little lion said with a shrug. I groaned and laid back on the couch.

"Why am I friends with you guys again?"

"Because you love us and would be totally lost without us?" Yug offered.

"Oh yeah."

**Seto POV**

"Everyone's clear on the plan, right?" Yami asked, looking around the group. Said plan was to have Bakura brake into the house that we were parked about two miles from. Once inside, he would disable all of the security devices like the thief he was and let Yami, Marik and me in.

We all nodded and began our trek to the asshole's mansion to end it for good. Using our genetically enhanced speed and night vision, we ran through some woods, dodging stray tree limbs and leaping over roots easily. Probably breaking some record, we made it there in only three minutes.

The cats were able to climb the ten foot wall _much_ faster and more easily than I was, but I didn't slow our operation down too much. As soon as we landed in the other side, we heard barking. I looked up to find guard dogs of various breeds charging right at us and some men with flashlights right behind them.

"You get the goons," I said. "I've got the dogs."

They didn't need any more encouragement. Without missing a beat, they were on top of the goons and had them unconscious. My job was just as easy. One growl from me and the once fierce looking canines were on their backs baring their bellies and necks. That was one thing about dogs that came in handy on our mission. They submit when in the presence of an individual stronger than themselves.

Once sure that the guards wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, Bakura went on his way. Yami, Marik and I sat with the dogs until the lights started flashing in one room. It was our signal.

Quick as a flash, we got up and ran over the grounds, into the house and followed the trail of knocked out people to the guard station. Bakura was, obviously, already there, sitting in the seat in front of the screens and computers.

"What's the situation?" Yami asked, leaning onto the back of the chair to get a better view of the monitors. A quick glance told me that all of the cameras that they were hooked up to were keeping surveillance of an area deeper in. There weren't any aimed at the grounds or the entrance way, meaning that whoever set it up found the one area that was covered much more important. If my thinking was right, which was probably the case, the one covered area was most likely the owner's room, or where he kept his research.

"I've already turned off the alarms for most of the house," the white hared yami replied. "There's some kind of code though, so I can't do anything else." He turned to me. "I believe that hacking in and getting past virtual defenses is your forte, priest."

"Of course," I said, grabbing the chair that the yami had opened for me and got to work. Within thirty seconds I had all of the defenses down and I was able to pull up what section of the house the cameras were trained on. I let an evil smirk loose as I read the location. "Master bedroom. Found it."

"Let's go then," our alpha said and, after quickly looking over the map of the house and memorizing the exact location of our desired destination, led the way out.

The bastard's door was just ahead of us. As much as we wanted to just knock down the damn thing and, basically, burst in guns blazing (no we didn't really have guns) we promised our mates that we would come home safe. It irked us to be patient and take the time to listen in and make sure nothing was waiting for us on the other end, but it was better than risking having to run for our lives from pissed off ukes. Hearing nothing but light snores, we slowly and silently opened the door and found our target sleeping soundly in his bed.

We all joined in a group smirk and crept our way to the slumbering asshole's bed. In a joint effort, we each grabbed a part of the mattress and flipped it, effectively waking him up. He hit the ground with a yelp and sat up, staring wide eyed at us. The four of us glared at him as realization downed on his face.

"Well, well," he began, composing himself and standing with an air of self-superiority. "If it isn't half of my little group of test subjects. How have you been?"

"Cut the bullshit," I growled.

"Oh my!" the bastard exclaimed in theatrical shock. "Such language."

Yami sent a nod in Marik and Bakura's direction and they charged at him, grabbing him by one arm each and using their free arms to press their claws against his throat. My cousin and I watched in a kind of sadistic satisfaction as he paled and tried his damnedest to at least _look_ calm.

"I-I that the experiment has had quite a few extraordinary results."

"You can say that again," I sneered. "Heightened senses, claws, fangs and animalistic instincts. You've definitely succeeded in giving us quite a few more things to worry about hiding. As if the powers we have that you were able to somehow detect weren't enough!"

"P-please," he stuttered out as Yami and I began stalking towards him. "I-it was just so magnificent! You understand Kaiba-san, don't you? After all, you're a scientist of sorts yourself, aren't you?"

"At least I know not to involve myself in the supernatural." He began to shake as I grabbed his wiry red hair and forced him to look me in eye so he could take the full brunt of my death glare. "If you're so fascinated by our magic, than why don't we show you just what it is that you're trying to get yourself into?"

"That sounds like a brilliant idea," my ancient cousin said, the sennen eye glowing on his forehead. Taking the hint, Bakura and I activated our shadow powers too and we all went to the shadow realm. The scientist stared around him in horror and his eyes widened as he laid eyes on the yamis and me.

Instead of the attire that we wore upon breaking into his house, Yami, Bakura and I were in our ancient garb. Of course I didn't really notice that until I so happened to turn my attention to the hand I was using to grip his hair. It felt so right to see that the appendage was the dark tan that I had formerly been and to feel the fabric of my priest robes draped over me.

"Before we damn your soul to eternal torment, there is one thing that I wish to ask," Yami said, fully decked out in his royal attire. The man in my and the other two yami's grasp nodded frantically. "Why did you involve our counterparts and Jou?"

Yami's eyes were ablaze so much with rage that I was honestly waiting for fire to start coming out of them. Apparently the scientist did too.

"C-comparison! I wanted to know how your powers would change the effect!"

The former Pharaoh wasn't the only one that was pissed beyond belief at that point. The shadows began to shift and swirl around us and took the form of monsters behind us. Before would could even think that we were going too far, which we wouldn't have done even if we had the time, we were surrounded by eight of our most trusted monsters.

"To what do we owe the honor of our summoning, my Pharaoh?" the Dark Magician asked, bowed respectfully behind him. Joining him was the Dark Magician Girl, the Egyptian god monsters, Kisara, Diabound and whatever it was that Marik summoned that I couldn't see because it was hidden by Obelisk the Tormenter.

"This man has done something abominable that deserves the worse punishment that we can dish out."

"Has he wronged all of you," Kisara asked, turning her frozen blue eyes to the trembling man. Marik and Bakura weren't even bothering to hold him down anymore since he was too scared to move. Her only answer was a curt nod from all four of us. "What is his crime?"

"He attacked and altered the hikaris' bodies and my mate, Katsuya. My cousin, our friends and I were attacked also."

I could feel electricity cackle through the air and the shadow of the woman that was standing behind me grew and warped into that of my most trusted dragon, the Blue Eyes White Dragon. As several fierce growls and roars ripped through the air, their target let out a pathetic whimper and may have pissed himself.

"May we have our way with him?" the draconic woman asked through yet another growl.

"Do as you will," my ancient cousin said. Without a second to lose, all of the monsters were on top of their prey and the only thing that we could make of him was the blood curdling screams that he released for only a few short seconds.

Once done with their task, all of the monsters disappeared with their own show of respect. The only that did not do so, was Kisara. Instead, she just reverted back to her human form and stared at me, begging for an audience with her eyes. Understanding, I nodded and turned to the yamis.

"You guys go on ahead. I'll meet up with you at the car." They nodded to me and left the shadow realm. Knowing that we were alone, I turned to the woman that was standing behind me, patiently waiting for me to start the conversation. I gave her a small smile. "It's nice to see you again, Kisara."

"The same to you." Her returning smile was so bright that it reminded me a bit of Mokie. "I would like to thank you for treasuring me in this life."

"I'm the one that should be grateful. If it weren't for you, I would still be possessed by my ancient father. I owe my life and freedom to you."

"It has always made me happy to help you. You were the first person to accept me after all. Protecting you is the least I could do to repay you."

"There's nothing to repay," I chuckled. "Just like my younger brothers in this life and my cousin, you're family."

"Those brothers must be pretty cute if they're related to you."

"Only one is. Like you this other is pretty much just considered that way." I changed the scenery around us to my mind room. Just like before, the desk was there. The only difference was that a picture of Noah now stood prominently next to Mokie's. I gestured to the two photos. "These are the pups. They're just as much my sons as they are my brothers."

"I was right, they are cute." She held the one of Mokie up and looked at it fondly. "I remember this one drawing a picture of me once and giving it to you to try and cheer you up. He really was a little darling."

"Giving me him as a little brother is one of the few things I can thank the fates for right now." I watched as her gaze turned to the picture of my puppy. Her smile turned more amused and teasing as picked it up and held it out to me.

"And who would this delightful looking young man be?" I took the picture from her and lightly caressed the photo.

"He's Jounochi Katsuya, my puppy. I can honestly say that he's the only person I've ever truly loved in the five thousand years that I've known. He's made me happier than I've ever been and I would do anything for him."

"I'm very happy for you. From what Red Eyes has told me, he's a great person with a big heart and he's proud to have a human like him as his master." I smirked, full of pride as I heard this.

"I'll be sure to tell him that when I get home, and I'm pleased to hear that you accept our relationship." She nodded and we just stood there for a moment in companionable silence.

"Well," she began, putting a hand on my shoulder. "It's time that I get going. Just remember, if you or your family ever need anything, I'll always be there to help you."

"Thank you," I said before turning around and returning to the real world, right next to the car where the yamis were waiting. "I do believe that it's time we go home. I'm sure our mates are losing their minds with worry by now."

Sadistic-neko: (sighs and falls back in comfy chair) That's it for this story. I'm kind of sad to see it end, but I still feel the pride that everyone should to know that it grew well from the random idea that popped in my head to this. Now, some of you may be wondering about a few things, the spike in Seto and Jou's instincts in the past few chapters for instance, but, I promise that all will be explained in the sequel that I _am_ going to start _very soon_. Just keep an eye on me and wait! It'll be good and sweet for sure! I think that I'll lower the rating for reasons to be revealed when they appear! I love all of you that have been following this story and please tell me if you think that you be as diligent with the sequel. Love you all again, bye!


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